'^ 


^ 


HARTFORD 


m  THE  OLDEN  TIME 


^is  iiixst  Cljirtg  |Mrs. 


By  5eiebf). 


EDITED  BY  W.  M.  B.  HARTLEY. 


Mitl  Illustzztionz. 


HARTFORD: 
PUBLISHED  BY  F.  A.  BROAYN. 

1853. 


Entered,  accordiBg  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

F.  A.  BROWN, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Connecticut. 


PRESS  OF  CASE.  TIFF.VNT  AND    COMPANY,  HARTFORD. 


?^£Ea6£. 


Reader.  Perhaps  you  wonder  with  uplifted  hands  that  Sc^vA 
has  taken  to  himself  an  Editor,  and  even  may  curl  your  lip  when 
told,  that  one  unknown  to  fame  has  ventured  to  obtrude  his  own 
name.  But  Sceva  is  a  quaint  old  man,  and  'tis  his  humor.  It  is 
but  now  that  he  consents  to  appear  before  you  in  another  garb,  al- 
though warmly  urged  to  do  so  by  very  many  who  wish  to  preserve 
his  writings  in  a  compact  form.  A  voice  from  home,  for  instance, 
through  the  columns  of  the  Hartford  Courant,  thus  pleasantly  ap- 
peals to  him  : 

^0  tit  J^istorfait  of  l^artfotir. 

Thanks,  Sc^vA,  thanks ! 

How  many  a  brightening  eye 
Hath  by  thy  tube  transpierc'd  the  mists  of  time, 
And  marked  their  forms,  who  first  upon  the  banks 
Of  this  fair  river  rear'd  their  rude  abodes, 
Sharing  the  hardships  of  colonial  life. 
Forth  at  thy  graphic  touch  they  come,  to  keep 
Stern  watch  and  ward  against  the  Indian  bow — 
Ploughing  the  furrow  for  their  children's  bread, 
And  planting  roots  of  knowledge  that  should  feed 
The  mind,  thro'  unborn  ages. 

Thou  hast  drawn 
From  mouldering  archives,  pictured  lineaments 
Of  patient  toil,  and  unrepining  trust ; 
And  from  the  moss-grown  sepulchre,  restor'd 
Names  that  their  race  should  honour. 

Peacefully 
Beneath  the  shadow  of  their  trees  we  walk, 
And  listen  for  their  words. 


2012370 


4  PREFACE. 

Thanks,  Sceva,  thanks! 
But  not  farewell — for  we  have  much  to  learn, 
And  thou  must  aid  us,  from  thy  castled  heighth, 
Fast  by  the  Charter  Oak,  to  guard  with  care 
The  patriot  lore  of  the  Recorded  Past. 

L.  II.  S. 
Hartford,  Feb.  19th,  1852. 

A  voice  from  the  mountains,  whose  form  is  prose,  but  whose  tones 
are  poetry,  is  also  heard : 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Courant. 

Dear  Sir  : — I  do  not  suppose  that  the  author  of  those 
articles  subscribed  Sca)VA,  that  have  from  time  to  time  appeared  in  your  columns,  could 
feel  complimented  by  any  testimonial  from  me ;  but  I  am  so  delighted  with  his  con- 
tributions that  I  cannot  forbear  adding  my  solicitations  to  those  of  many  more,  that 
he  will  continue  to  scatter  those  beautiful  flowers  of  which  he  has  such  inexhaustible 
stores,  along  the  dusty  road  of  our  Colonial  history. 

That  valley  with  its  little  community  meeting  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  hills,  how 
it  wakens  into  life  at  the  touch  of  the  enchanter!  Those  grim  old  Fathers  of  Con- 
necticut, -with  their  schools,  their  sumptuary  laws,  their  Train  Bands,  their  wars,  their 
piety,  their  exclusiveness,  their  dread  of  the  Devil  and  their  horror  of  Dutchmen  and 
Savages,  how  their  faces  brighten,  how  their  brows  relax,  as  they  peep  out  from  the 
mirror  held  up  to  them  by  their  graceful  descendant.  Their  very  steeple-crowned  hats 
seem  to  smile  upon  Sc^vA. 

Have  we  indeed  read  the  last  number  of  those  charming  sketches,  not  so  much  of 
men  as  of  manners,  not  so  much  of  manners  as  of  an  era  which  gave  birth  to  all 
republican  States  that  acknowledge  as  their  basis  true  Christian  liberty  ? 

And  if  we  have  read  the  last,  shall  even  the  few  that  have  already  delighted  us,  lie 
scattered  as  they  fell,  like  the  leaves  in  Autumn,  to  be  tost  by  the  winds  till  they  are 
lost  in  oblivion,  so  that  not  even  the  hand  that  gave  them  form  and  life  can  restore 
them  to  the  eyes  of  those  who  have  already  had  such  pleasant  glimpses  of  their 
beauty,  or  treasure  them  up  for  the  admiration  of  the  future  ? 

Will  you  not,  Mr.  Editor,  entreat  ScjEVA  to  gather  them  up,  bind  them  in  a  volume 
worthy  to  embalm  them,  and  commit  them  as  the  Koman  Poet  did  his  little  book,  to 
the  care  of  posterity  ? 

For  ScsvA  is  a  poet,  a  pastoral,  an  epic,  a  didactic,  a  dramatic  poet,  though  he  writes 
in  what  the  world  calls  prose.  What  a  pity  all  the  world  does  not  know  as  Cicero  did, 
that  prose  as  well  as  verse  has  its  numbers. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Litchfield,  March  6, 1852.  G.  H.  11. 

Sc.KVA  could  not  resist  these  kind  appeals,  and  he  gives  you  now, 
in  a  "  volume  worthy,"  he  hopes,  "to  embalm  them,"  his  chronicles  of 
the  early  life  of  Hartford.     He  shows  you  a  wild  but  beauteous  wood- 


PREFACE.  O 

land,  rescued  from  painted  sarages  and  savage  beasts  that  once  ranged, 
as  we  do  now,  o'er  its  free  hills,  or  floated  down  the  stream  of  that 
glad  river  which  still  laves  its  shore.  He  tells  you  of  the  struggles 
and  disheartening  toils  of  the  early  settlers — ancestors,  perhaps,  of 
those  who  read — of  their  hopes,  their,  joys,  their  fears  and  sorrows 
too,  of  all  that  remains  to  us  of  those  "  good,  honest,  true  and  honor- 
able men." 

Few  marble  tablets,  urns,  or  stones, 
Tell  where  repose  their  honored  bones  ; 
The  tide  of  time,  and  dull  decay, 
Have  swept  their  tenements  away, 
But  not  their  names.     These  live  as  yet, 
In  hearts  that  never  can  forget. 

The  battle  of  life,  as  fought  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  is  not  to  be 
despised.  If  it  teaches  but ,  the  virtue  of  self-denial,  it  is  not  lost ; 
and  should  it  do  more — should  it  stimulate  the  young  to  action,  the 
more  advanced  to  lives  in  harmony  with  those  of  parents  in  the  olden 
time,  and  all  to  grave  and  earnest  preparation  for  the  future,  the 
chronicles  of  Sc^VA  will  not  have  been  written  in  vain.  They  are 
published  nearly  as  they  were  given  to  the  Public,  number  after 
number,  in  the  columns  of  the  Hartford  Daily  Courant — after  care- 
ful revision,  however,  by  their  author,  but  with  a  preservation,  in 
the  main,  of  those  allusions  to  present  times  which  served  so  well  as 
a  condiment  to  the  articles  on  their  first  appearance.  While  thus 
their  pristine  dress  of  thought  has  been  retained,  the  Editor,  upon 
the  suggestion  of  the  author  and  other  friends,  has  added  a  few  pic- 
torial illustrations. 

That  the  volume,  in  its  present  shape,  may  abundantly  gratify  and 
instruct  all  who  read  it,  is  the  fervent  wish  both  of  Sc.eva  and  him- 
self 

W.  M.  B.  H. 

Hartford,  January,  1853. 


CahU  of  €Q\xUntB. 


HARTFORD. 

No.   1.  Its  Beginxisg 9 

No.    2.  Its  First  Appearance  to  the  Settlers 17 

No.    3.  Its  Purchase.    Its  Distribution  and  Plan 23 

No.   4.  Black  Governors  IN  Connecticut — By  wat  of  note  to  "Hartford,  No.  3."  37 

No.    6.  Hap  of  the  Town  in  1640 45 

No.    6.  Its  First  Organization — Crra-  and  Keligious 49 

No.    7.  Its  First  Military  Organization 63 

No.    8.  Its  First  Buktisg-Gbound 75 

No.   9.  Its  Name.    A  Coat  of  Arms 83 

No.  10.  Its  Municipal  Organization — down  to  1650 99 

No.  11.  Its  Judicial  Organization — down  to  1650 107 

No.  12.  Its  Militart  History — down  to  1650 113 

No.  13.  Its  Land  Policy — down  to  1650 125 

No.  14.  Its  Sumptuary  Policy — down  to  1650 131 

No.  15.  Its  AGRicuLirRE — down  to  1650 141 

No.  16'.  Its  Trades  and  Commerce — down  to  1650 153 

No.  17.  The  School — the  Church — the  Grave — down  to  1850 161 

No.  18.  Its  Chief  Functionaries — down  to  1650 175 

No.  19.  Its  Civil  History — from  1650  to  1665.    Period  Second 185 

No.  20.  Its  Civil  History  continued.    Period  Second 195 

No.  21.  Its  Mills — lis  Inns.    Period  Second 207 

No.  22.  Its  Ecclesiastical  History.    Period  Second 221 

No.  23.  Code  op  1650.    Peculiar  Laws.    Punishments.    Period  Second.  .    .    .  233 

No.  24.  Dutch  Point.    Its  History.    Periods  First  and  Second 243 

No.  25.  The  Muse  again  at  Dutch  Point 273 

No.  26.  The  Military  History  of  Hartford.    The  Indians.    Period  Second.  .  277 

No.  27.  Marriages  and  Births.    Period  Second 285 

No.  28.  Deaths  between  1650  and  1665.    Rev.  S.  Stone.    Gov.  Haynes.    Gov. 

Hopkins.  '  Period  Second •    .    .    .    .  295 

No.  29.  The  School.    Reflections.    Good-Bye.    Period  Second 307 


cv/r 


artfarL 


ITS    BEGINNING. 

No.  1. 

"  Prithee,  Winthrop,  please  to  let  me  know, 

By  whom  it  was  your  place  did  first  commence?" 

Roger  Wblcott. 

"  Sires,  dames  and  little  ones,  the  unflinching  band 
Thrid  the  deep  forest,  climb  the  weary  hill; 

A  wandering  Israel  seeks  the  promised  land, 
And  God  sustains  his  chosen  people  still."  Anon. 

It  was  1631,  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  years 
ago,  what  part  of  the  year  we  know  not,  and  Governor 
Winslow  of  Plymouth  visited  Connecticut.  His  was 
probably  the  foot  of  the  first  white  man  upon  its  soil. 
It  was  1631  and  1632,  when  subsequent  explorers  and 
traders,  also  from  Plymouth,  sailed  up  and  down  its 
Great  River,  bearing  back  with  them  hemp,  furs  and 
deer  skins.  It  was  1633  when  William  Holmes,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Tunxis  River  in  Windsor,  erected  for 
purposes  of  trade,  the  first  framed  house  in  Connect- 
icut. It  was  1634  and  1635,  when  a  few  bands,  some 
of  men  alone,  some  of  men,  women  and  children,  and 
one  of  about  sixty  in  number,  settled  along  from 
Windsor  to  the  southern  limit  of  Wethersfield.  But 
cold  and  famine  did  their  work  upon  them.  They 
were  soon,  most  of  them,  destroyed  or  driven  back. 


10  HARTFORD. 

The  country  thus  visited,  however,  became  known  as 
exceedingly  fertile,  the  Indians  as  friendly,  trade  with 
them  as  lucrative.  The  opportunity  for  permanent 
settlement  was  most  inviting.  Influenced  by  these 
considerations,  by  straitened  accommodations  in  Mass- 
achusetts, by  the  necessity  of  better  support  both  for 
themselves  and  those  who  were  to  follow  them  from 
England,  and  by  the  motive  of  keeping  the  Dutch  from 
possessing  a  fruitful  and  important  part  of  New  En- 
gland, it  was  in  June,  1636,  that  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Hooker,  Mr.  Samuel  Stone,  and  about  an  hundred 
others,  men,  women  and  children,  took  their  way  from 
Cambridge,  near  Boston,  to  the  present  site  of  Hart- 
ford. 

What  was  this  band,  how  composed,  that  thus  ven- 
tured through  the  wilderness  to  found  a  Town,  and  aid 
to  found  a  State  ?  One  of  exiles  from  their  father-land 
for  faith  and  liberty — a  band  of  serious,  hardy,  enter- 
prising, hopeful  settlers,  ready  and  determined  to  carve 
out,  for  themselves  and  their  posterity,  new  and  happy 
homes  in  a  wilderness — there  to  sink  the  foundations 
for  a  chosen  Israel — there  to  till,  create,  replenish, 
extend  trade,  spread  the  gospel,  spread  civilization, 
spread  liberty-7— there  to  live,  act,  die  and  dig  quiet 
sepulchres,  in  a  hope  and  happiness  that  were  destined 
to  spring,  phoenix-like,  from  the  ashes  of  one  genera- 
tion to  illumine  and  beautify  the  generation  which  was 
to  succeed.  At  the  head  of  this  band  stood  Hooker. 
Wise,  learned,  well  versed  in  civil  as  well  as  in  religious 
affairs,  earnest,  fearless,  quick  in  composition,  ready 
in  debate — skilled  in  human  nature — a  rare  soother  of 
consciences — a  "  son  of  consolation"  to  the  afflicted,  a 


ITSBEGINNING.  11 

"son  of  thunder"  in  rebuking  sin — ^ready  while  doing 
his  Master's  work,  as  was  quaintly  said,  "to  put  a 
king  in  his  pocket" — a  Bunyan's  Great-heart  to  Zion's 
pilgrims — a  moral  Boone  to  pilgrims  of  this  world — 
he  was  just  the  man  to  inspire  and  conduct  an  emigra- 
tion like  that  under  consideration.  Associated  with 
him  in  the  enterprise,  though  not  in  his  journey  through 
the  \vilderness,  were  John  Haynes  and  Thomas  Welles — 
the  first  already  a  Governor  in  Massachusetts,  and  each 
subsequently  Governors  of  Connecticut — men  rich  in 
experience,  and  eminent  alike  for  their  prudence,  piety, 
skill  and  private  worth.  Associated  with  him  soon 
after  the  commencement  of  his  enterprise,  but  fairly 
embraced  within  it,  were  Georg-e  Wyllys  and  Echvard 
Hopkins,  also  Governors  subsequently  of  Connecticut — 
remarkable,  the  first  for  his  agricultural,  the  second  for 
his  mercantile  enterprise — each  signalized  afterwards 
by  an  intelligent  administration  of  public  affairs,  by 
great  personal  worth,  and  by  energy  in  throwing  out 
from  the  primitive  nursery,  when  formxcd  at  Hartford, 
shoots  upon  which  infant  settlements  in  the  adjoining 
country  might  climb  into  townships,  and  affiliate  with 
a  new  republic.  And  immediately  of  Hooker's  party, 
and  his  associate  as  teacher  in  the  Church,  was  Samuel 
Stone — a  theological  Socrates — a  subtle  reasoner  and 
great  disputant — ingenious,  witty,  didactic — remark- 
able for  his  frequent  fastings  and  exact  Sabbaths — -"a 
man  of  principles,  and  in  the  management  of  those 
principles,"  says  Mather,  both  a  Load-stone  and  a  Flint- 
stone.'^  And  there  was  William  Goodtvin,  ruling  Elder 
in  the  Church,  of  uncompromising  faith,  upright  in 
conduct,  of  tireless  enterprise,  pioneer  in  negotiations 


12  HARTFORD. 

with  the  Indians,  of  wealth  and  great  influence — and 
Mattheiv  Allyn^  and  William  Whiting,  and  John  Tal- 
cott,  and  John  Webster,  and  Richard  Lord,  and  John 
Steele,  and  John  Cullick,  and  John  Pratt,  and  Thomas 
Standley,  and  Edivard  Stebbins,  and  William  West- 
wood,  all  men  of  note  and  prominent  influence  both  in 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs,  with  more  than  ordinary 
possessions  for  the  day,  and  honored  often  in  after  times 
with  offices  of  high  trust.  The  rest  of  the  party  were 
men,  chiefly  planters,  a  very  few  mechanics,  several 
merchants — members,  most  of  them,  of  Mr.  Hooker's 
congregation  at  Cambridge — known  to  the  church  for 
lives  upright  and  godly,  and  to  society  for  industry, 
energy,  usefulness  and  respectability.  There  was 
probably  not  a  single  bad  man  in  all  ]\Ir.  Hooker's 
"  goodly  company" — and  as  for  the  women — why  it  is 
not  always  that  a  good  man  has  a  good  wife  or  good 
children — things  sometimes  "  go  by  contraries" — but  it 
is  a  fair  inference  that  wives  and  daughters  who  were 
chiefly  church  members,  and  the  companions  of  such 
men  as  we  have  described,  and  who  were  willing  to 
risk  their  all  for  a  perilous  life  in  a  wilderness,  were  pure 
in  their  purposes,  and  blameless  and  energetic  in  their 
conduct. 

Such  was  the  band  that  started  from  Cambridge, 
near  Boston,  to  found  Hartford.  Where  will  you  find 
another  its  superior  in  mind,  knowledge,  character, 
purpose  ?  No  where.  How  rarely  will  you  find  one 
its  equal  in  these  respects!  Well  may  the  citizens  of 
Hartford  be  proud  of  their  progenitors — no  Goths 
starting  from  wild  lairs  to  overrun  and  devastate  peo- 
pled towns  and  cities — no  Tartars  to  steal  the  crown 


I  T  S     B  E  G  I  N  N  I  i\  G  .  13 

of  any  already  existing  little  empire — no  Crusaders  in 
the  pomp  and  panoply  of  earthly  might  to  rescue  any 
worthless  Jerusalem — no  band  of  mere  trappers  and 
miners,  absorbed  in  thought  of  peltry  and  gold — no 
pioneers  for  the  mere  glory  of  opening  new  settlements 
and  adding  to  the  halo  of  dominion — but  a  company 
of  sober,  intelligent,  wise,  earnest,  resolute  lovers  of 
God  and  lovers  of  man,  going  forth,  freighted  with  the 
rich  elements  of  church  and  state,  to  scatter  them 
there  where  a  wilderness  might  be  made  "to  bud  and 
blossom  as  the  rose!" 

It  was  a  morning  in  June,  1636 — bright  and  early  we 
may  safely  suppose — that  this  company  was  collected 
in  Cambridge,  to  begin  its  journey — men,  women  and 
children,  over  an  hundred,  with  packs  or  bundles, 
most  of  them,  borne  on  the  back  or  by  the  hand,  and 
near  them  a  few  wagons  and  carts  hitched  to  horses 
or  oxen,  and  around  an  hundred  and  sixty  head  of  cat- 
tle, and  swine  and  goats  and  kids.  The  wagons  and 
carts  were  loaded,  heavily  no  doubt,  for  ample  time 
had  been  given  for  preparation,  and  uncertainty  as  to 
the  transmission  of  effects  by  sea,  and  the  necessity  in 
then*  plan  of  speedy  recourse  to  them,  must,  we  think, 
have  induced  the  Emigrants  to  carry  with  them  all 
that  they  could,  at  least  in  the  way  of  house,  and 
kitchen,  and  yard,  and  farming  utensils.  Would  you 
get  an  idea  of  their  equipment  ?  Just  glance,  then, 
over  the  note  below.* 


*  For  mechanical  purposes  they  had  axes  broad  and  narrow,  adzes,  hatch- 
ets, chisels,  wimbles,  augers,  gimlets,  files,  saws,  wedges,  beetle  rings,  and 
numerous  pieces  and  scraps  of  iron ;  for  house  furniture,  a  few  forms  and 
stools,  cushions,  tablecloths,  napkins,  towels,  cups,  saucers,  porringers   and 


14  HARTFORD. 

A  goodly  provision,  it  would  seem !  Yes,  for  that 
day,  and  under  the  circumstances  of  the  party,  start- 
ing as  it  was  upon  an  expedition  not  expected  to  occupy 
more  than  five  or  six  days.  Yet  not  more,  nor  half  so 
much  proportionally,  as  you  may  see  now,  every  day, 
among  multitudes  who  are  threading  the  thousand  de- 
vious arms  of  the  Mississippi,  or  making  their  way  to 
new  homes  in  California  or  Oregon — nor  a  provision 
half  so  rich  in  convenience,  utility  and  variety,  as  that 
which  fills  up,  daily,  the  long  canvass-covered  wagons 
of  our  emigrants  to  the  West.     Such  is  progress ! 

But  the  Hartford  settlers  were  doomed  in  one  re- 
spect to  disappointment.  The  journey  they  expected 
to  make  in  five  or  six  days  occupied  them  a  full  fort- 
night. Think  of  making  the  same  journey  now, 
Hartford  citizen,  in  four  hours  I  No  record  remains  of 
their  progress.  We  know,  ho^vever,  that  it  was  through 
a  pathless  w"ilderness,  the  abode  of  wild  beasts,  and 
savages  more  Avild  than  these.  No  roads,  no  fences, 
no  bridges — mountains,  ravines,  swamps,  thickets — the 
felling  of  trees,  the  filling  up  of  hollows,  the  clipping 


candlesticks,  both  of  Avood  and  of  pewter,  feather  beds,  flock  beds,  bolsters, 
pillows,  sheets  of  flax  or  hemp,  coverlids,  blankets,  curtains,  curtain  rods, 
knives,  spoons,  dishes  chiefly  of  wood  or  pewter,  and  a  few  mirrors.  For 
the  kitchen  they  had  pots  and  kettles  both  of  brass  and  iron,  pans  for  baking, 
warming  and  frying,  skimmers,  skillets,  ladles,  pestles,  mortars,  cansticks, 
cullenders,  chafing  dishes,  bottles  of  pewter,  of  leather  and  of  glass,  cob 
irons,  gridirons,  smootliing  irons,  trammels,  and  pot  hooks,  and  spits,  wooden 
and  pewter  platters,  tongs,  shovels,  andirons,  pails,  firkins,  brewing  vessels, 
bowls,  tunnels,  drinking  horns,  &c.  For  yard  and  farming  purposes  they 
had  plowshares  and  colters,  scythes,  hoes,  spades,  mattocks,  cleavers,  sad- 
dles, ropes,  collars,  harnesses,  bridles,  halters,  &c.  Besides  these  articles, 
they  had  pieces  of  cloth,  linen  and  woolen,  wearing  apparel,  paper,  some 
bundles  of  leather,  provisions  for  the  way,  beside  the  milk  of  cows,  of  corn, 
wheat,  pease,  oats,  butter,  cheese,  &c.,  and  arms  and  ammunition. 


ITSBEGINNING.  15 

of  banks,  the  removal  of  rocks,  the  construction  of 
rafts,  the  swimming  of  cattle — the  bivouac  on  the  hill, 
in  the  valley,  amid  the  thatch  of  the  meadow  or  the 
underbrush  of  the  wood — the  dark,  eternal  forest,  the 
howl  of  the  wolf,  the  snarl  of  the  bear,  the  cry  of  the 
panther,  the  hiss  of  the  snake,  the  prowl  of  the  Indian — 
these  are  the  associations  which  paint  but  too  truly 
the  difficulty  and  the  danger  the  Emigrants  underwent. 
They  had  no  guide  but  the  compass,  no  cover  but  the 
heavens.  The  sun  their  illuminator,  by  day,  the  flare 
of  their  camp  fires  was  their  only  light  by  night.  The 
gun,  the  pistol,  the  sword,  were  almost  constantly  in 
their  hands — for  game  and  for  defence  against  danger. 
And  so  on  they  came,  the  weary  riding  in  wagons, 
the  sick,  as  was  Mrs.  Hooker,  borne  on  Utters,  the 
rest  trudging  resolutely  on  foot — on  they  came,  these 
pioneers  of  the  olden  time — vocaHzing  the  woods  with 
the  triple  melody  of  their  voices  and  axes  and  guns — 
the  turf  literally  their  "  fragrant  shrine,"  God's  "  arch" 
literally  their  "  temple" — till  about  the  middle  of  the 
soft,  leafy  month  of  June,  they  stood  on  the  banks  of 
that  river. 


the  sweetest  of  the  chain 


That  links  the  mountain  to  the  mighty  main," 

the  fair,  the  noble,  the  glorious  Connecticut ! 

Where  did  they  strike  this  river  ?  Perhaps  high  up 
as  Springfield,  for  Hutchinson  mentions  the  Chicopee 
River  as  one  which  on  their  route  they  could  not  well 
avoid — perhaps  between  Springfield  and  Hartford — 
perhaps  lower  down.  But  no  matter — here  they  are, 
thank   God,    at  last,  on  the   site   of   Hartford,    tired. 


16 


HARTFORD, 


safe,  thankful,  hopeful,  at  then*  journey's  end!  Hark 
to  then-  voice  of  prayer,  to  then*  songs  of  thanksgiv- 
ing! 

How   do   things  appear  to  them  ?     We  will  look 
through  their  eyes.  Reader,  in  another  article. 

Sc^VA. 


|iartf0rlr. 


ITS  FIRST  APPEARANCE  TO  THE  SETTLERS. 

No.  2. 

"  Thy  parent  stream,  fair  Hartford,  met  the  eye, 
Far  lessening  upward  to  the  northern  sky ; 
No  watery  glades  thro'  richer  valleys  shine, 
Nor  drinks  the  sea  a  lovelier  wave  than  thine." 

Joel  Barlow. 

Conceive  Connecticut  River,  Reader,  in  front  of  our 
city,  running  much  farther  east  than  at  present,  and  re- 
ceiving the  tributary  North  Meadow  Creek  at  the  foot 
of  our  present  Ferry  Street  continued  east.  Stretch- 
ing from  its  banks  on  either  side,  but  sloping  soon 
into  uplands  on  the  west,  behold  level,  extensive  mead- 
ows, as  now,  but  which  here  and  there  are  to  quite  an 
extent  wooded  and  covered  with  underbrush.  Fire, 
however,  at  frequent  intervals,  has  consumed  trees, 
bushes  and  foliage.  It  was  the  Indian's  remorseless 
agent  for  clearing  land,  that  it  might  look  upon  the 
sun,  and  forget  its  deep,  cold  gloom.  Large  spaces 
appear  wholly  destitute  of  timber  and  covered  with  a 
long,  wiry  grass,  the  primitive  thatch,  or,  if  without 
grass,  are  undulated  by  rows  of  Indian  hillocks,  the 
beds  of  corn  and  hemp  and  squashes.  To  the  west 
and  north  are  several  uplands,  one  main  one  on  the 
present  site  of  our  city,  cleared  also  like  the  meadows 
by  fire,  but  locked  in  on  most  sides  by  the  tall,  green 


18  HARTFORD. 

trees  of  a  primeval  forest,  which  now  rising,  now  sink- 
ing, but  never  with  any  great  elevation  or  depression, 
stretches  miles  away  east  and  west,  till  it  climbs  and 
overruns  two  long  ranges  of  mountains.  The  pine, 
the  cedar,  the  oak,  the  maple,  the  walnut,  the  bass- 
wood,  the  whitewood,  the  ash,  the  elm,  the  beech, 
figure  conspicuously  in  this  perspective,  while  beneath 
climb  and  thicken,  in  great  profusion,  the  vines  of  the 
wild  grape,  the  raspberry  and  blackberry,  and  the 
bushes  of  the  currant,  and  of  the  bay  and  dew  and 
whortle  and  straw  berries,  and  the  small  trees  of  the 
wild  cherry  and  plum.  And  here  and  there  scattered 
in  open  spaces  on  the  banks  of  the  Great  River,  and 
along  the  Little  River,  here  and  there  beneath  tall  and 
majestic  trees,  or  on  little  cleared  elevations  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  our  present  city,  the  smoke  rises  from 
numerous  Indian  wigwams.  It  rises,  dense  as  the 
fumes  from  their  pipe  bowls,  plainly  from  the  fort  of 
the  Dutchmen  at  the  Point,  and  now  and  then  from 
the  solitary  hut  of  some  resolute  Englishman,  rem- 
nant of  former  emigrations,  who  in  spite  of  cold  and 
famine  and  disease,  still  maintains  his  foothold  in  the 
wilderness.  It  is  June  —  the  middle  of  it.  Trees, 
plants  and  shrubs  are  all  in  foliage.  Corn  and  hemp 
in  much  abundance  have  started  from  the  ground. 
The  earth  has  on  its  carpet  of  green.  Birds  carol 
every  where  amid  verdant  branches.  The  sturgeon 
and  the  salmon  have  not  yet  ceased  to  leap  in  the 
river.  The  Indian  is  busy  spearing  them,  or  dragging 
his  hempen  net  "  by  mossy  bank  and  darkly  waving 
wood."  His  tiny  canoe  is  shooting  up  and  down  a 
stream  —  broad,  deep  and  majestic  enough  it  looks,  to 


ITS     FIRST     APPEARANCE.  19 

float  all  the  pinnaces  that  commerce  can  gather,  on, 
freighted  with  every  exchangeable  commodity  that 
industry  can  create,  on  to  the  ocean  and  a  market. 

Such  was  the  first  aspect  of  Hartford  to  the  primi- 
tive Settlers.     Truly  it  was  a  goodly  one ! 

A  more  minute  view  but  improved  it.  It  showed 
that  the  soil  was  indeed,  as  reported,  naturally  most 
fruitful — that  it  produced  a  remarkable  variety  of 
most  valuable  roots  and  herbs — and  that  the  groves 
around  were  filled  with  natural  fruits  and  excellent 
game,  and  the  waters  with  fish.  Ground-nuts,  arti- 
chokes, wild  leeks,  onions,  garlic,  turnips,  wild  pease, 
plantain,  radishes,  and  other  esculent  roots,  grew 
spontaneously.  There  was  hardly  a  medicinal  vege- 
table, of  common  use,  that  could  not  be  found  in 
profusion.  There  was  enough  of  bloodroot,  and  liq- 
uorice root,  and  spikenard,  and  elecampane,  and  sarsa- 
parilla,  and  senna,  and  ginseng,  and  angelica,  and 
masterwort,  and  lungwort,  and  centaury,  and  flag, 
and  elder,  and  pennyroyal,  and  rattlesnake  weed,  and 
mallow,  and  celandine  —  enough  of  these,  and  of 
many  other  medicinal  roots  and  barks  and  buds,  to 
supply  scores  of  druggists  and  cullers  of  simples  for 
centuries.  Walnuts,  chestnuts,  butternuts,  hazelnuts 
and  acorns,  filled  the  groves.  What  a  time  the  chil- 
dren were  to  have !  Wild  game  was  also  to  be  found 
in  the  richest  abundance.  There  were  the  deer,  moose, 
bear,  turkey,  partridge,  quail,  and  pigeons  in  such 
extraordinary  numbers  as  frequently  "  to  obscure  the 
light"  as  they  swept  in  flocks  along.  And  there  were 
water-fowl,  too,  in  great  variety — the  wild  goose,  the 
wild  duck,  the  widgeon,  the  broadbill,  the  teal.     How 


20 


HARTFORD. 


appetizing!  What  a  lure  to  deglutition  and  diges- 
tion! One  would  think  the  Hartford  Settlers  need 
never  have  thought  of  being  troubled  with  "  anxious 
stomachs,"  there  was  around  them  a  natural  bill  of 
fare  so  showy  and  tempting,  and  apparently  exhaust- 
less —  more  so  than  that  of  any  modern  Delmonico,  or 
of  even  that  world-renowned  chef  de  cuisine  Careme  — 
one  worthy  of  the  Rocher  Cancale* — enough  to  make 
epicures  of  all  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  Hartford, 
and  to  render  surfeit  "  the  father  of  much  fast." 

But  more  than  all,  as  bearing  upon  future  trade 
and  commerce,  and  so  upon  the  pecuniary  prospects 
of  the  Settlers,  there  were  the  otter,  the  beaver,  the 
fox,  the  raccoon,  the  mink,  the ,  muskrat,  most  abund- 
ant, not  only  where  the  Settlers  paused,  but  along  the 
whole  Connecticut  River  from  its  source  down.  The 
river  would  form  a  natural  highway  for  the  transmis- 
sion of  their  valuable  skins.  It  communicated  with 
numerous  tribes  of  Indians  to  the  north,  with  the 
lakes  and  the  natives  of  Canada,  and  the  site  of 
Hartford  could  be  reached  by  vessels  from  the  ocean. 
There  already  had  the  Dutch,  for  some  time  past,  pur- 
chased annually  no  less  than  ten  thousand  skins,  and 
not  unfrequently  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  had 
sent  in  ships  to  England  one  thousand  pounds  sterl- 
ing worth  of  them  at  a  time,  brought  chiefly  from  the 
Connecticut.  Well  might  Hooker  and  his  party,  then, 
delight  in  their  pecuniary  prospects !     All  the  consid- 


*  A  Paris  restaurant,  where,  as  John  Sanderson  metaphorically  says,  "  you 
would  think  the  servants  were  bearing  along  the  sacred  things  of  Mother  Ves- 
ta— their  feet  are  muffled,  and  the  dishes  are  of  velvet." 


ITS     FIRST     APPEARANCE.  21 

erations  which  now  a  days,  with  materials  of  commerce 
entirely  different,  have  impelled  the  citizens  of  Hart- 
ford to  urge  new  facilities  of  travel  down  the  Con- 
necticut valley  to  this  city,  and  to  improve  and  keep 
open  navigation  hence  to  the  sea,  operated  in  modi- 
fied forms  on  the  minds  of  the  Hartford  Settlers  in 
choosing  their  locality,  and  rallied  chiefly  around  the 
trade  in  skins — especially  the  skins  of  the  quick,  slen- 
der, shrewd,  soft-skinned  otter,  and  the  broad-tailed, 
ingenious,  industrious,  epicurean  beaver.  Well,  in 
this  view,  as  they  survey  the  Connecticut,  and  see  the 
log  canoe  of  the  Indian  skimming  its  waters,  and 
think  of  their  own  commercial  future,  of  their  own 
pinnaces  soon  to  come  and  return  freighted  with  the 
stores  of  their  settlement  —  well  may  we  put  in  their 
mouths  the  graphic  language  of  Brainard: 

"  'Tis  here  the  otter  dives,  the  beaver  feeds, 
Where  pensive  osiers  dip  their  willowy  weeds ; 
And  as  the  unhanned  swallow  skims  his  way, 
And  lightly  drops  his  pinions  in  thy  spray, 
So  the  swift  sail  shall  seek  thy  inland  seas. 
And  swell  and  whiten  in  thy  purer  breeze, 
New  paddles  dip  thy  waters,  and  strange  oars 
Feather  thy  waves,  and  touch  thy  noble  shores !" 

Thus  upon  a  nearer  view,  in  respect  to  its  fertility 
and  trade,  appeared  the  site  of  Hartford  to  the  first 
Settlers. 

But  upon  it,  as  already  suggested,  and  around  it, 
were  Indians  —  many.  On  the  site  itself  was  a  tribe 
which,  for  the  want  of  any  other  known  appellative, 
we  may  designate  from  the  known  name  of  the  site 
itself,  as  the  tribe  of  Suckiag-e.  South  of  the  site  was 
a  tribe  tributary  to  the  Mattabesetts.     North  were  sev- 


22  HARTFORD. 

eral  tribes  known  as  the  Mattanag,  subsequently  as  the 
"Windsor  Indians.  East  were  the  Podunk  and  the  Hoc- 
canuni  Indians,  and  west  the  Tunxis  tribe.  They  num- 
bered in  all,  probably  some  three  thousand.  Wild, 
artful,  active,  sullen  in  anger,  courageous  under  tor- 
ture, superstitious — dressing  in  skins  of  wild  beasts, 
with  belts  of  wampum  and  ornaments  carved  of  bone, 
shells  and  stones — frightful  with  paints  and  feathers, 
and  figures,  indelible  in  their  skins,  of  birds  and  beasts 
of  prey — they  were  occupied,  the  men  in  hunting,  fish- 
ing, shooting,  in  martial  exercises  and  in  war,  and  the 
women,  both  in  and  out  of  doors,  as  drudges.  Their 
weapons  were  the  bow,  strung  with  the  sinew  of  the 
deer — the  arrow,  headed  with  flint — ^the  spear,  headed 
with  bone  or  stone — and  the  tomahawk  and  scalping- 
knife,  made  of  wood  or  stone.  They  had  canoes 
hollowed  from  the  whitewood,  pine  and  chestnut,  and 
nets  WTought  with  cords  of  hemp,  and  fish-hooks 
made  of  flexible  bones.  They  were  domesticated  in 
wigvi'ams  made  of  young  trees  bent  and  covered  with 
mats  of  bark,  and  fiu-nished  with  a  few  simple  uten- 
sils, such  as  knives,  pestles,  mortars  and  chisels,  made 
of  stone,  shells  and  reeds.  They  fed  on  wild  animals, 
their  entrails  as  well  as  their  flesh,  on  nuts,  acorns, 
the  gleanings  of  the  forest,  and  on  corn,  beans  and 
squashes.  They  worshipped  a  Great  Spirit  whom 
they  called  Kitchtan,  an  Evil  Spirit  whom  they  called 
Hobammocko,  and  led  on  by  priests  denominated 
Poivaivs,  paid  homage  to  fire,  and  water,  and  thunder, 
and  lightning.  They  had  a  plurality  of  wives.  They 
were  impure  in  their  morals.  Their  justice  was  rude 
and  severe.     Their  government  was  an  absolute  mon- 


ITS     FIRST     APPEARANCE.  23 

archy.  The  will  of  their  Sachems,  aided  by  a  few- 
chosen  counsellors,  called  the  Paniese,  was  held  in  pro- 
found awe,  and  obeyed  without  question. 

Such  were  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try into  which  the  Hartford  Settlers  came !  Yet, 
though  wild,  though  fierce  and  intractable  in  their 
commerce  with  each  other,  circumstances  had  ren- 
dered them  as  a  mass  friendly  to  the  whites.  They 
lived  in  and  around  the  site  of  Hartford,  tributary  to 
and  in  perpetual  fear  of  both  the  Mohawks  and  the 
Pequots.  The  English,  they  thought,  would  aid  in 
their  protection.  Hence,  in  past  years,  they  had  sent 
on  to  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth,  soliciting  the 
white  men  to  settle  among  them,  and  offering  them,  if 
they  would  do  so,  as  did  Wahquimacut  a  Sachem, 
in  1681,  annual  presents  of  corn  and  beaver  skins. 
Hooker  and  his  party,  then,  had  no  immediate  dread 
of  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife.  They  were  re- 
ceived by  the  natives  with  great  kindness,  aided  with 
provisions,  and  instructed  by  them  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  country.  Watchfulness  and  jealousy  came  after- 
wards, not  at  first. 

Truly,  in  view^  of  the  spot  they  had  chosen  for  set- 
tlement, its  soil,  its  scenery,  its  wood,  its  timber,  its 
water,  its  marketable  attraction,  its  security,  and  the 
long,  broad,  cheerful  vista  it  opened  to  the  eye  of  im- 
provement, truly  the  Hartford  Settlers  might  feel  that 
their  lot  had  fallen  in  a  pleasant  place !  And  so  they 
did!  ScjEVA. 


iartforl)* 


ITS  PURCHASE.— ITS  DISTRIBUTION  AND  PLAN. 

No.  3. 

"  Hither  the  neighboring  Indian  Kings  resort, 

And  join  with  them  in  articles  of  peace, 

And  of  their  lands  make  firm  convej'ances ; 

And  being  now  by  deeds  and  leagues  secure, 

Their  towns  they  build,  their  purchased  lands  manure." 

Roger  Wolcott. 

The  first  step  of  the  Settlers  after  their  arrival  was, 
of  course,  to  purchase  land.  They  had  been  for  some 
time  close  neighbors  and  friends,  were  already  organ- 
ized as  a  church,  had  been  members  of  townships, 
and  were  familiar  therefore  with  action  as  a  body. 
They  agreed  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  purchase  terri- 
tory jointly,  and  afterwards  to  parcel  it  out.  Accord- 
ingly Mr.  Samuel  Stone  and  Mr.  William  Goodwin 
were  appointed,  in  behalf  of  the  proprietors,  to  treat 
for  land  with  the  tribe  of  Suckiage. 

At  this  time  Sequassen  was  its  chief  Sachem.  He 
was  an  Indian  of  considerable  notoriety.  He  was  of 
the  blood  royal — was  proud.  It  was  his  boast  that  he 
never  had  been  conquered  by  the  Pequots,  nor  paid 
them  tribute.  He  was  warlike.  He  met  the  renowned 
Uncas  in  battle,  and  though  vanquished,  retired  with- 
out disgrace.  He  was  persevering.  When  his  friend 
4 


26       Hartford: its  purchase. 

and  ally,  a  neighboring  sagamore,  was  slain,  he  thun- 
dered his  claim  for  the  "  meane"  murderer  at  the  fort 
of  the  Podunks,  allied  Uncas  actively  with  his  purpose 
of  revenge,  and  was  with  difficulty  appeased,  if  at  all 
so,  by  the  intervention  of  the  General  Court.  He  had 
occasional  differences  with  the  whites.  He  burned 
Mr.  Andrew  Warner's  hedge,  and  paid  damages  only 
after  he  had  been  brought  before  Governor  Haynes 
and  threatened  with  an  attachment.  Once  he  was 
strongly  suspected  of  conspiring  with  Miantinomo  "to 
draw  the  Indians  into  a  confederation"  against  the 
English,  but  without,  it  seems,  just  foundation.  Once 
he  was  charged  with  conspiring  the  death  of  certain 
magistrates  among  the  English — was  arrested,  impris- 
oned, tried  before  the  Commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies,  and,  for  want  of  proof,  was  acquitted.  He 
was  a  landholder  of  some  consequence.  Besides 
Hartford  he  had  land  east  "  beyond  the  river."  He 
was  rather  extensively  connected  both  by  blood  and 
treaty  with  surrounding  Sachems.  He  was  upon  the 
whole  friendly  to  the  English,  and  once  testified 
strongly  in  their  favor,  in  open  Covirt,  against  the 
Dutch.  Though  vindictive  and  wary,  he  seems  to 
have  loved  his  friends,  and  adhered  to  his  promises. 
He  was  quite  fair  for  an  Indian. 

Such  was  the  chief  with  whom  ]Mr.  Stone  and  Mr. 
Goodwin  had  to  negotiate.  They  were  successful, 
and  so  far  as  appears  without  trouble.  With  Sequas- 
sen's  consent,  and  that  of  "  those  of  his  tribe  also  who 
were  of  age"  to  declare  it,  and  "  with  the  consent  of 
the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  place,"  they  soon 
purchased    an    area    about  the  same  as  our    present 


ITS    DISTRIBUTION    AND    PLAN.  27 

township.  It  was  to  extend  from  a  tree  marked 
N.  F.,  which  was  "  the  divident  between  Hartford  and 
Wethersfield"  on  the  south,  to  Windsor  bounds  on 
the  north,  and  from  the  Great  River  on  the  east  "  full 
six  miles"  into  the  wilderness  on  the  west — and  it  em- 
braced all  "  meadows,  pastures,  woodes,  underwood, 
stones,  quarries,  brookes,  ponds,  rivers,  profitts,  comod- 
ities  and  appurtenances  whatsoever."  The  original 
deed,  witnessed  by  "  many  natives  and  English  inhab- 
itants," is  lost.  A  renewal  of  it,  however,  by  the  heirs 
and  successors  of  the  Sachem  who  granted  it,  bearing 
date  1670,  and  reciting  its  subsequent  confirmation  by 
Sequassen,  and  his  enlargement  of  the  original  grant 
"westw^ard  as  far  as  his  country  went,"  is  still  pre- 
served. These  heirs  and  successors  have  strange 
names — Masseekcup,  Williamsqua,  Wawarme,  who 
was  the  sister  and  only  heir  of  Sequassen,  Keepequam, 
Seacutt,  Jack  Spiner,  Currecombe,  Weehassatucka 
squa,  and  Seacunk  squa!  What  jawbreakers  I  Try 
and  pronounce  them !  And  the  original  marks  of 
these  Indians  are  as  grotesque  as  their  names  are 
strangely  compounded.  Caliban,  invoking  all  the 
charms  of  his  mother  Sycorax,  could  not  have  traced 
stranger  figures. 

The  consideration  of  the  deed  no  where  appears. 
It  w^ould  be  curious  to  know  what  it  was — probably 
cloth,  axes,  kettles,  knives,  &c.,  as  were  paid  by  the 
Dutch  in  their  purchase  of  the  Point.  That  a  consid- 
eration "u^as  given,  that  it  was  increased  when  Sequas- 
sen confirmed  his  grant,  and  was  enlarged  again  when 
his  heirs  and  successors  reneVed  it,  "  to  near  the  value 
the  land  was  esteemed  at  before  the  English  came  in- 


28       Hartford: its  purchase. 

to  these  parts,"  is  apparent  from  the  deed  of  renewal 
itself.  The  fathers  of  Hartford  then  honorably  and 
satisfactorily  paid  for  the  township.  This  is  a  grati- 
fying fact. 

Soon  as  acquired,  the  land,  one  large  portion  of  it 
required  for  immediate  use,  was  at  once  distributed  to 
the  new  proprietors,  one  part  for  houselots,  and  anoth- 
er for  farms,  for  plow  and  meadow  lots.  In  this  dis- 
tribution, as  was  just,  the  few  settlers  who  had  preced- 
ed Hooker  and  his  party  shared.  The  first  part  was 
in  lots  of  about  two  acres  each,  and  was  arranged  so 
as  nearly  to  cover  the  present  thickly  settled  portion  of 
our  city.  Each  Settler  had  one  of  these.  The  sec- 
ond part  stretched  in  every  direction  out  from  the  first, 
and  was  distributed  to  the  Settlers  in  different  propor- 
tions, according  to  their  means,  their  contributions  to- 
w^ards  the  purchase,  sometimes  according  to  their  ser- 
vices, sometimes  their  necessities,  and  sometimes  their 
dignity.  Each  grant  "was  upon  condition  that  the 
land  should  be  improved,  or  else  returned  to  the  town. 
These  lots,  with  occasional  relaxations  of  the  rule, 
were  to  be  built  upon  within  twelve  months,  and  the 
houses,  by  way  of  precaution  against  fire,  were  to 
have  each  a  ladder  or  a  tree  running  to  within  two 
feet  of  their  tops.  In  case  any  proprietor  wished  to 
sell,  the  town,  paying  only  for  any  labor  expended, 
was  to  have  the  preference  as  purchaser.  It  was  to 
hold  also  in  reversion  all  lots  abandoned  for  four  years 
by  the  removal  of  any  grantee  from  the  settlement, 
and  could  at  any  time,  upon  compensation  made,  run 
highways  wherever  deemed  necessary. 

These  highways  it  is  important  to  know,  at  least 


ITS    DISTRIBUTION    AND    PLAN.  29 

generally,  if  we  would  get  a  proper  conception  of 
Hartford,  as  originally  laid  out.  Dull  of  course,  Read- 
er, the  statement  must  prove  to  some  of  you,  we  p,re 
aware.  But  it  is  essential  to  our  purpose — important 
to  you  if  you  feel  interest  enough  in  the  town  to  be 
versed  in  its  history.  Start  not  then,  "  nor  deem  our 
spirit  fled,"  if  carefully  and  coldly  we  unbury  for  a 
moment  the  bones  of  Hartford,  dry  though  they  be, 
for  our  own  city  is  their  monument : 

"  Eedeemed  from  worms  and  wasting  clay, 
This  chance  is  theirs,  to  be  of  use." 

Walk  with  us  then,  if  you  please,  to  the  foot  of  the 
present  State  House  Square.  This  spot  was  fixed 
upon  by  the  Settlers  as  a  site  for  their  Meeting-house. 
Running  hence  down  present  State  Street,  winding  a 
little  distance  through  present  Front  Street,  and  strik- 
ing diagonally  to  the  foot  of  present  Kilbourn  Street 
to  the  river,  they  laid  out  a  highway  which  they  called 
^^Road  to  the  Ferr//,''^  and  also  ^'-Road  to  the  Little 
Meadoiv."  The  meadow  here  mentioned  was  the  lev- 
el area,  then  much  larger  than  now,  which  extends 
from  Little  River  to  the  North  Meadow  Creek.  At 
the  foot  of  Ferry  Street  a  "  Toum  Landing'"  was  es- 
tablished. There  was  another  "  Landing,"  at  the  cor- 
ner of  present  Arch  and  Front  Streets — and  running 
from  this  point  north  was  a  '•'•Roadfrom  Little  River 
to  North  Meadow^,"  a  name  which  the  meadow  still 
preserves — and  running  from  the  same  point,  on  both 
sides  of  Little  River,  to  near  the  present  Railroad  De- 
pot, were  two  roads,  called  each  '■'■Highway  hy  the  Lit- 
tle River."     From  the  junction  of  the  present  North 


30  Hartford: ITS  PURCHASE. 

Main  and  Trumbull  Streets,  south  to  the  bridge,  was 
another  highway  called  '■'■Road  from  Cetitinel  Hill  to 
the  PalisadoJ'  Centinel  Hill  was  then  quite  an  eleva- 
tion, and  for  many  years  supplied  the  town  with  a 
sentry-place,  and  with  dirt  and  gravel.  The  Palisado 
was  probably  some  fortification.  From  the  present 
State  House  Square  again,  turning  at  the  corner  of 
present  Pearl  Street,  and  running  along  the  bank  of 
Little  River  to  the  foot  of  present  West  Pearl  Street, 
where  the  first  site  for  a  mill  was  chosen,  was  another 
highway  called  ^'■Meeting  House  to  the  Mill,'"  and 
which,  continued  on  over  present  Lord's  Hill,  was 
called  '■'■Road  from  the  Mill  to  the  Country^  On  the 
south-west  corner  of  present  Pearl  Street,  was  a  house 
lot  set  off  to  Seth  Grant.  From  this  point  then  north, 
in  the  line  of  present  Trumbull  Street,  was  another 
highway  called  "  Centinel  Hill  to  Seth  Granfs  House.^^ 
From  Centinel  Hill,  one  road  led  off  in  the  line  of  the 
present  Albany  Turnpike,  and  was  called  "  Centinel 
Hill  to  the  Cow  Pasture,''^ — a  pasture  embracing  about 
one  thousand  acres,  and  lying  north  of  the  turnpike 
and  west  of  the  present  Windsor  road.  Continued 
on,  this  road  was  called  "  Cow  Pasture  to  the  Country.^^ 
Another  road  led  from  the  Hill  named,  to  the  North 
Meadow,  and  was  called  "  Centinel  Hill  to  the  North 
MeadoivJ^  It  joined  the  highway  from  Little  River, 
and  the  two  ran  off,  either  through  the  meadow  or 
along  on  the  bank  in  the  adjacent  Neck,  in  a  ^'■Road  to 
Windsor.^''  South  of  the  present  Main  Street  Bridge 
again,  and  running  from  it  to  a  tract  of  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  acres,  which  extended  from  the  pres- 
ent Burying    Ground  on  the  New   Haven  Turnpike 


ITS    DISTRIBUTION    AND    PLAN.  31 

east  to  the  South  Meadow,  and  was  called  the  "Oa; 
Pasture^''  was  another  highway  designated  as  the 
'■'•Road  to  the  Ox  Pasture"  and  also  as  the  '■'■Road  to 
Wethersfieldy  Nearly  parallel  with  this,  and  running 
from  the  site  of  the  mill  heretofore  mentioned,  on  by 
the  present  Trinity  College,  through  Cooper  Lane, 
thence  diagonally,  till  it  struck  the  south  part  of  pres- 
ent Washington  Street,  past  the  present  Insane  Retreat, 
and  so  on  to  the  large,  level  tract  beyond  which  crosses 
the  New  Haven  Turnpike,  was  a  road  called,  the  first 
portion  of  it,  '■'■Road  from  the  Mill  to  the  Country," 
and  the  second  portion  ^^Road  from  George  SteePs  to 
the  Great  Swamp."  Nearly  parallel  again  with  this, 
but  winding  as  it  joins  present  Main  Street,  was  an- 
other highway,  present  Cole  Street,  called  the  ^'■Road 
to  Wethersfield"  or  "  to  the  Ox  Pasture"  Intersecting 
these  roads,  besides  that  along  Little  River  akeady 
mentioned,  was  another,  which  starting  in  present 
Washington  Street,  ran  partly  through  present  Buck- 
ingham Street  and  through  Charter  Street,  down  to 
the  meadow  then  designated  and  now  known  as  the 
'■'■South  Meadow."  This  road  was  called,  its  upper 
portion,  " George  SteeVs  to  the  South  Meadow"  the 
part  from  present  Main  to  Cole  Street,  "  Giles  Smiths 
to  William  Gibbon's"  the  part  below  '■'•Road  to  the 
South  Meadow"  or  "  to  the  Indian's  Land." 

Various  cart  paths  and  alleys  ran  through  the  orig- 
inal plat  as  now  described,  and  in  every  direction 
around  and  beyond  it  were  land  locations  designated 
by  a  gi-eat  variety  of  names,  and  set  off  sometimes  to 
one,  sometimes  to  a  number  of  proprietors  in  common. 
Such  were,  besides  some  above  mentioned,  the    West 


S2  Hartford: its  purchase. 

Field,  Brick  Hill,  Bridgejield,  Blue  Hills,  Pine  Fields 
Venturers  Field,  Poke  Hill,  Rocky  Hill,  Indian's  Land, 
Soldier's  Field,*  &ic.,  and  towards  present  West  Hart- 
ford, reaching  from  Wethersfield  to  Windsor,  there 
was  a  large  strip  of  land  called  the  "  Commons,''^  which 
was  set  apart  for  public  use,  for  pasture,  timber  and 
wood.  The  rest  of  the  town  was  reserved  undivided 
in  the  hands  of  the  Proprietors,  to  be  distributed  from 
time  to  time  thereafter  as  occasion  should  require. 

Of  the  house-lots  those  chiefly  were  first  improved, 
by  the  erection  of  buildings,  which  lay  along  Little 
River,  and  the  present  Main,  Front  and  Cole  Streets. 
In  present  Arch  Street,  Hooker  and  Stone  and  Wm. 
Goodwin  and  Richard  Webb  planted  themselves,  and 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  among  others  were 

*  This  last  location  doubtless  has  some  history.  What  it  is  ■we  know  not, 
but  think  that  the  present  worthy  Treasurer  of  the  Town  can  enlighten  the 
Public  about  it.  We  invite  him  to  do  so.  And  by  way  of  compensation  we 
will  treat  him  in  advance  to  the  first  record  establishing  the  ofBce  which  he 
now  holds,  and  appointing  the  first  officer. 

"  Feb.  14,  1659,  Ensign  John  Talcott  was  chosen  by  a  vote  of  the  Town,  to 
be  a  Town  Treasurer,  or  husband  for  the  town,  to  preserve  the  town  stock, 
until  the  Town  see  cause  to  alter  their  order." 

'■'■  Husband  for  the  townp^  Good  enough !  We  had  always  hitherto  won- 
dered at  the  confirmed  celibacy  of  the  present  excellent  successor  of  Ensign 
John  Talcott.  For  him  no  love  "  learned  in  a  lady's  eyes,"  no  courtship's 
smiling  daj-,  no  rosy  bondage,  no  babies  dear! 

"  In  vain  to  soothe  his  solitary  shade, 

Has  Lore  his  notes  in  miDgiing  measure  played.'' 

Yet,  consistently  with  the  Record,  he  could  not  have  yielded  to  the  siren 
without  committing  bigamy,  and  being  a  gentleman  of  singular  uprightness, 
he  is  "  fain  not  to  sin."  It  is  perhaps  fortunate  for  the  town,  that  its  present 
Husband  has  no  other  wife ! 

[The  Treasurer  cheerfully  complied  with  the  suggestion  in  the  note  above, 
as  will  be  seen  hereafter.    Ed.] 


ITS    DISTRIBUTION    AND    PLAN.  33 

Andrew  Bacon,  Nathaniel  Ward  and  Andrew  Wake- 
man. 

Along  Front  Street,  among  others,  were  James 
Olmsted,  Timothy  Standley,  William  Bull,  William 
Westwood  and  Stephen  Hart. 

Along  Main  Street,  among  others,  were  John  Steele, 
our  first  Town  Clerk,  Richard  Olmsted,  Richard  Lord, 
Clement  Chaplin,  John  Pratt,  John  Talcott  and  Na- 
thaniel Ely. 

South  of  West  Pearl  Street,  and  on  the  banks  of 
Little  River,  were  Thomas  Stanton  and  Nathaniel 
Richards. 

Along  Trumbull  Street,  among  others,  were  Wil- 
liam Wadsworth,  John  Clark,  Thomas  Burchwood 
and  Thomas  Hale. 

On  the  road  from  present  Buckingham  Square  to 
Washington  Street,  ^vere,  among  others,  John  Moody, 
Richard  Lyman  and  Thomas  Bull. 

Along  present  Cole  Street,  were  at  first  Thomas 
Hosmer  and  William  Whiting,  and  subsequently  Ed- 
ward Hopkins,  John  Webster,  Thomas  Wells  and 
George  Wyliys,  four  Governors,  as  they  became,  of 
Connecticut.  On  this  street  now  lives  our  present 
Governor,  his  Excellency  Thomas  H.  Seymour.  Bos- 
ton, also,  the  last  of  the  Negro  Governors,  lived  and 
died  upon  it.  Five  Governors  of  Connecticut  from 
one  street  in  Hartford,  besides  a  sixth  one  of  ebony ! 
The  fact  is  most  remarkable  !  It  deserves  commemo- 
ration. A  petition  for  this  purpose  is  in  progress, 
praying  that  the  present  name  of  the  street  in  ques- 
tion may  be  changed  to  "  Governor's  Street.''^  Our 
municipal    officers    cannot   we    think    but    make    the 


34  Hartford: its  purchase. 

change.  It  will  be  pleasing,  appropriate,  and  we 
doubt  not,  find  favor  with  all.* 

Behold  our  town  now,  Reader,  platted,  nearly  as  we 
can  plat  it  in  brief  description.  Take  a  pen  or  pencil, 
if  you  feel  interest  enough,  and  draw  it !  You  will  in 
this  way  get  an  idea  of  its  appearance,  sufficiently 
correct  for  the  general  purpose  we  have  in  view.  But 
we  will  furnish  you  with  a  map  of  it  soon,  an  exact 
one.     It  is  afoot. 

Meanwhile  look  at  Hartford  as  it  is  forming — fast! 
The  Settlers  are  busy  providing  shelters  for  themselves — 
houses  and  huts.  Listen  to  the  reverberation  of  their 
axes,  the  buzz  of  their  saws,  the  blows  of  their  ham- 
mers !  They  are  felling  trees,  shaping  timber,  sawing 
boards,  cleaving  shingles,  digging  cellars,  digging  wells, 
and  carting  earth  and  stones.  Their  stock  is  turned 
out  in  wood  and  meadow  to  crop  and  graze.  Already 
milk-maids  sing,  perhaps  to  some  "  responsive  swains." 
Plows  are  busy  opening  here  and  there  the  virgin  soil. 
Bareheaded  Indians  in  fantastic  attire — their  hair  stiff- 
ened by  paint  and  bear's  grease  into  the  straightness 
of  cock's-combs  and  crests,  or  falling  in  thick,  heavy 
plaits  about  their  tawny  necks — come,  in  fringed  shirts 
and  skirts,  and  beaded  breeches,  leggins  and  mocca- 
sins, up  from  the  North  and  South  Meadows,  where 
they  soon  began  chiefly  to  hut,  to  supply  the  new 
comers  with  corn  and  game,  and  receive  in  return 
trinkets  and  wampum.     The  children  of  the  whites 


*  A  cheerful  response  was  given  to  this  suggestion,  and  March  10th,  1851, 
by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Common  Council  of  Hartford,  Cole  Street  be- 
came Govtrnor's  Street. 


ITS    DISTRIBUTION    AND    PLAN.  35 

stare  at  them,  as  they  pass,  with  wonder  not  unmin- 
gled  with  fear,  then  turn  to  their  sports  again  beneath 
the  trees, 

"  And  many  a  gambol  frolic  on  the  ground, 
While  the  loud  laughter  titters  round." 

Tlieir  fathers  are  thinking  of  a  school-house  for  them, 
and  will  make  it.  So  pass  the  week-days  to  ^he  Set- 
tlers, in  bustle,  labor,  contrivance  for  present  subsist- 
ence, and  preparation  for  permanent  conveniences — 
and  at  that  fortunate  "  purple"  period  of  the  year  when 
zephyrs  fling  their  fragrance  through  the  clear,  blue 
sky,  and  "  the  insect  youth  are  on  the  wing,"  and  herds 
low  for  their  young,  and  warblers  pour  their  notes — 
while  the  Rivulet,  as  the  Settlers  often  beautifully 
called  our  present  Little  River,  chimed  over  the  rocks 
and  pebbles  in  its  bed,  and  the  winds  gently  swept  the 
skirts  of  those  far  spreading  woods,  which  to  them 
were  "  far  more  free  from  peril  than  the  envious  court." 
And  Sundays,  and  "  Lecture  Days,"  how  careful  the 
devotion !  Regularly  on  these  occasions,  and  morning 
and  evening  daily,  collected  either  in  some  house  or  in 
the  open  air,  perhaps  in  some  barn  or  beneath  some 
spreading  oak,  as  were  the  New  Haven  Colonists  at 
first,  the  pious  Settlers  of  Hartford  proffer  unquestion- 
ably to  Heaven  the  ^varm  request, 

"  That  He  who  stills  the  raven's  clamorous  nest, 

And  decks  the  lily  fair  in  floweiy  pride. 

Would  in  the  way  His  wisdom  sees  the  best, 

For  them  and  for  their  Uttle  ones  provide, 

But  chiefly  in  their  hearts  with  grace  divine  preside." 

We  will  look  at  their  progress  in  another  article. 

Sc^VA. 


^(atli  ioheniors  m  C0iiiutticut. 

No.  4, 

BY  WAY  OF  NOTE  TO  "  HARTFORD,  NO.  3."' 

"  Laugh  ail'  sing  until  to-morrow, 
'Tis  de  Darkies  holiday! 

Cliorus.    Let's  be  gay,  &c." 

Not  a  veritable,  constitutional,  black  Governor  for 
the  whites.  Reader — no — but  a  chief  executive  black 
officer,  among  the  blacks,  for  themselves !  We  alluded 
to  the  circumstance  in  our  Article  Third  on  Hartford, 
but  finding  it  little  understood,  we  cheerfully  comply 
with  a  request  from  several  sources  to  explain  it. 

For  many  years  previous  to  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, throughout  this  event,  and  long  after — down 
nearly  to  1820,  and  perhaps  a  little  later — it  was  the 
custom  of  the  negroes  of  Connecticut,  in  imitation  of 
the  whites,  to  elect  a  Governor  for  themselves.  This 
they  generally  effected  on  some  day,  usually  the  Sat- 
urday next  succeeding  the  Election  Day  of  the  whites, 
and  they  called  it  their  "  Lection  Day."  At  this  time 
they  were  generally  assembled  in  unusual  numbers, 
with  their  masters,  in  one  of  the  capitals  of  the  State. 
They  of  course  made  their  election  to  a  large  extent, 
deputatively,  as  all  could  not  be  present,  but  uniform- 


38  BLACKGOVERNORS 

ly  yielded  to  it  their  assent — and  their  confidence  was 
at  times  so  unlimited,  that  without  any  choice  by 
themselves,  they  readily  permitted  their  existing  Gov- 
ernor to  assign  his  office  over  to  another  one  of  his  col- 
or— as  ^vill  be  seen  in  a  case  we  shall  soon  quote. 

The  person  they  selected  for  the  office  in  question, 
was  usually  one  of  much  note  among  themselves,  of 
imposing  presence,  strength,  firmness  and  volubility, 
who  was  quick  to  decide,  ready  to  command,  and  able 
to  flog.  If  he  was  inclined  to  be  a  little  arbitrary,  be- 
longed to  a  master  of  distinction,  and  was  ready  to 
pay  freely  for  diversions — these  were  circumstances  in 
his  favor.  Still  it  was  necessary  he  should  be  an  hon- 
est negro,  and  be,  or  appear  to  be,  "  wise  above  his  fel- 
lows." When  elected,  he  had  his  aids,  his  parade,  and 
appointed  military  officers,  sheriffs,  and  justices  of  the 
peace.  The  precise  sphere  of  his  power  we  cannot 
ascertain.  Probably  it  embraced  "  matters  and  things 
in  general"  among  the  blacks,  morals,  manners,  and 
ceremonies.  He  settled  all  grave  disputes  in  the  last 
resort,  questioned  conduct,  and  imposed  penalties  and 
punishments  sometimes  for  vice  or  misconduct.  He 
was  respected  as  "  Gubernor,"  say  many  old  gentle- 
men to  us,  by  the  negroes  throvighout  the  State,  and 
obeyed  almost  implicitly. 

His  parade  days  were  marked  by  much  that  was 
showy,  and  by  some  things  that  were  ludicrous.  A 
troop  of  blacks,  s'ometimes  an  hundred  in  number, 
marching  sometimes  two  and  two  on  foot,  sometimes 
mounted  in  true  military  style  and  dress  on  horseback, 
escorted  him  through  the  streets,  with  drums  beating, 
colors  flying,  and  fifes,  fiddles,  clarionets,  and  every 


INCONNECTICUT.  39 

"  sonorous  metal"  that  could  be  found,  "  uttering  mar- 
tial sound."  After  marching  to  their  content,  they 
would  retire  to  some  large  room  which  they  would 
engage  for  the  purpose,  for  refreshments  and  delibera- 
tion. This  was  all  done  with  the  greatest  regard  to 
ceremony.  His  ebony  excellency  would  pass  through 
the  files  of  his  procession,  supported  by  his  aids,  with 
an  air  of  consummate  dignity,  to  his  quarters,  and 
there  receive  the  congratulations  of  his  friends,  and 
dispense  the  favor  of  his  salutations,  his  opinions  and 
his  appointments.  One  of  these  occasions,  in  Hins- 
dale's tavern,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by ,  Hon.  H. 
Barnard,  is  well  remembered  by  an  old  gentleman  now 
living,  who  informs  us  that  Quaw,  a  negro  then  be- 
longing to  Col.  George  Wyllys,  enacted  the  Governor 
at  this  time  to  great  satisfaction,  and  was  the  stifFest 
and  proudest  "  Darkie"  he  ever  saw. 

Another  of  the  black  governors  at  one  time  was  Pe- 
leg-  Nott,  who  belonged  to  Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth. 
Peleg  was  a  "  first-rate  feller,"  we  are  told — remarkable 
for  his  exact  dress  and  military  bearing.  He  superin- 
tended his  master's  farm  in  West  Hartford,  the  same 
now  occupied  by  Z.  Alden,  Esq.,  and  was,  to  use  the 
language  of  our  informant,  "the  most  independent 
man  in  the  West  Division."  He  drove  a  Provision 
Cart  in  the  war  while  Col.  Wadsworth  was  Commis- 
sary. When  elected  Governor,  a  curious  accident  be- 
fel  him.  The  place  of  the  election  was  on  the  Neck, 
near  the  north  burying  yard.  Peleg,  after  he  w^as  cho- 
sen, had  no  sooner  mounted  his  horse,  booted  and 
spurred,  than  his  impatient  and  fiery  steed  started  at 
once  for  a  pond  which  then  lay  a  little  south  of  the 


40  BLACKGOVERNORS 

cemetery  mentioned,  and  plunging  headlong  into  it, 
bespattered  his  excellency  from  head  to  foot  with  mud 
and  water.  Not  long  after  this  occurrence,  Peleg  met 
Col.  Wadsworth  one  day,  and  the  following  dialogue 
occurred.  "  Massa,  me  want  to  be  free,"  said  Peleg. 
"  What  do  you  want  to  be  free  for  ?"  said  Col.  Wads- 
worth.  "  Oh  Massa,  freedom's  sweet,"  replied  Peleg. 
"Well  then,"  said  his  master,  "I'll  make  you  free." 
"  Wlien  will  you  make  me  so  ?"  inquired  Peleg.  "  Noio" 
answered  Col.  Wadsworth — "  you  are  free  from  this 
day."     And  he  became  so. 

Boston,  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Nichols,  who  left  him  a 
handsome  estate,  was  another  of  the  black  governors. 
He  lived  in  Cole  Street,  and  was  a  genuine  African. 
He  used  to  boast  that  the  real  Guinea  negro  never 
stole,  but  only  negroes  born  in  this  country.  AH  who 
remember  him,  and  there  are  many,  concur  in  giving 
him  the  character  of  "  a  stable,  respectable  man."  He 
held  his  office  many  years — and  when  he  died,  which 
was  about  forty  years  ago,  he  was  buried  with  funeral 
honors.  With  his  cocked  hat  and  sword  upon  his  cof- 
fin, and  followed  by  a  numerous  train,  he  was  carried 
into  the  South  Congregational  Church,  and  there  Dr. 
Flint  pronounced  a  sort  of  funeral  eulogy  over  his  re- 
mains, which  were  afterwards  deposited  in  the  Centre 
Burying  Ground.  He  had  a  son  named  Roman,  who 
was  crazy,  and  in  his  craziness  was  intolerably  filthy. 
A  ludicrous  anecdote  is  told  of  Roman  and  Dr.  Strong. 
The  latter  once  employed  Roman  to  hive  a  swarm  of 
bees.  When  within  about  twenty  feet  of  the  swarm, 
it  suddenly  formed  in  a  solid  battalion  abovit  six  inch- 
es deep  and  three  feet  long,  and  poured  on  directly  to- 


INCONNECTICUT.  41 

Avards  Roman  with  such  impetuosity  that  Dr.  Strong 
thought  the  poor  fellow  would  certainly  be  killed. 
But  the  swarm,  soon  as  it  approached  "svithin  two  feet 
of  him,  abruptly  turned  off  in  another  direction  and 
left  him  undisturbed.  "  The  bees,"  added  our  inform- 
ant, "couldn't  stand  Roman!" 

There  were  many  other  black  governors  from  other 
parts  of  the  State  than  Hartford ;  from  Middletown, 
Norwich,  Wallingford,  Peter  Freeman  from  Farming- 
ton,  &c.  Others  from  Hartford  were  Cuff  and  John 
Anderson. 

.The  following  extract  from  Hinman's  American 
Revolution  presents  curious  facts  with  regard  to  these 
blacks,  and  to  whites  also.  They  will  richly  reward 
perusal : 

"  At  the  early  period  of  the  ■war,  (^lay  14,  1776,)  the  Americans 
were  jealous  and  alarmed  at  the  rustling  of  every  leaf,  and  watchful 
of  every  movement.  At  this  time,  Cuffvra.s  Governor  of  the  blacks 
in  Connecticut.  He  had  held  the  office  for  ten  years,  and  on  the  11th 
of  May  aforesaid,  he  resigned  his  office  to  John  Anderson,  a  negro 
servant  of  Gov.  Skeen,  which  resignation  and  appointment  were  in 
the  words  and  figures  following,  viz : 

"Hartford,  11th  May,  1776. 

"  I  Governor  Cuff  of  the  Xiegro's  in  the  province  of  Connecticut, 
do  Resign  my  Govermentshipe  to  John  Anderson,  Niegor  Man  to 
Governor  Skene. 

"  And  I  hope  that  you  will  obeye  him  as  you  have  Done  me  for 
this  ten  years  past,  when  Colonel  Willis'  Niegor  Diyed,  I  was  the 
next.  But  being  weak  and  unfit  for  that  office  do  Resine  the  said 
Governmentshipe  to  John  Anderson. 

"I:  John  Anderson  having  the  Honour  to  be  appointed  Governor 

6 


42 


BLACK     GOVERXORS 


over  you,  I  will  do  my  utmost  endevei'e  to  serve  you  in  Every  Res- 
pect, and  I  hope  you  will  obey  me  accordingly. 

JoHX  AxDEjisON,  Governor 
over  the  Niegors  in  Connecticut. 
Witnesses  present, 

The  late  Governor  Cuff,  Hartford, 

Quackow, 

Fetter  Wadsworth, 

Titows, 

Pomp  WUlis, 

John  Jones, 

Fraday." 

"May,  1776.  At  this  appointment,  the  citizens  of  Hartford  be- 
came alarmed ;  Gov.  Skeen  was  at  once  suspected  of  being  concerned 
in  his  negro's  election,  with  some  design  upon  the  citizens  of  the  state. 
Therefore  the  Governor  and  Council  of  the  colony  convened  at  Hart- 
ford, took  the  subject  into  solemn  consideration,  and  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  investigate  the  subject,  of  which  Jesse  Root  Esq.,  was  chair- 
man ;  the  committee  took  with  them  a  constable  and  immediately  re- 
paired to  Gov.  Skeen's  lodgings,  found  his  door  locked,  and  the  govern- 
or absent.  One  of  the  committee  remained  to  guard  his  room,  while 
others  proceeded  after  him,  and  found  him  returning  home,  and 
brought  him  before  the  committee,  and  on  enquiry  whether  he  had 
carried  on  any  correspondence  with  our  enemies,  he  answered  he  had 
sacredly  kept  his  engagements  in  his  parole,  and  had  no  papers  but 
his  own  private  pajiers,  and  offered  his  keys  to  the  committee  to  ex- 
amine his  papers.  He  was  asked  if  he  had  any  previous  knowledge 
of  the  negroes  electing  his  servant  governor  of  the  negroes,  or  had 
any  hand  in  effecting  said  election — which  he  denied,  except  a  few 
words  that  passed  between  a  Mr.  "Williams  and  his  negro,  which  he 
supposed  was  mere  sport,  and  had  no  hand  in  bringing  it  to  pass,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly.  He  was  enquired  of  if  he  gave  his  negro  mon- 
ey to  make  a  feast  for  the  negroes — he  answered  that  he  gave  him  a 
half-joe  to  keep  election,  but  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  treat  at 
Knox's ;  that  on  Friday  he  heard  his  negro  was  chosen  governor,  and 
was  fearful  it  might  excite  jealousy,  and  even  avoided  speaking  to 


I  X     C  O  N  X  E  C  T  I  C  U  T  .  43 

him  to  avoid  suspicion,  and  declared  upon  his  honor  he  had  no  pa- 
pers about  him. 

"  The  committee  then  proceeded  to  examine  the  negro  governor, 
■who  stated  that  one  Sharper,  a  negro  man,  firs't  mentioned  to  him 
about  being  governor,  and  that  he  informed  the  negroes,  if  they 
■would  elect  him,  he  -would  treat  them  to  the  amount  of  S20,  and  it 
had  cost  him  §25,  but  declared  that  no  regular  oiiicer  or  soldier  had 
spoken  to  him  on  the  subject ;  that  there  vras  no  scheme  or  plot,  and 
that  he  had  done  it  as  a  matter  of  sport,  and  intended  no  injury  to 
the  country,  but  had  the  curiositj'  of  seeing  an  election ;  that  he  had 
been  informed  the  negroes  chose  a  governor  annually,  and  thought 
he  ■would  set  up  for  It.  He  stated  that  he  got  his  S25  by  going  in  a 
vessel  on  the  lakes,  ■where  he  had  certain  perquisites  of  his  o^wn. 

The  committee  made  many  other  enquii-ies  of  Gov.  Skeen  and  his 
servants,  together  ■with  the  captain,  (Delaplace.)  And  ex-Governor 
Cuff"  stated  that  he  had  been  advised  to  resign  his  office  to  Skeen's 
negro  by  some  of  his  black  friends  and  some  of  the  regulars,  and 
that  he  appointed  him  without  an  election,  as  some  of  them  declared 
they  would  not  have  a  tory  lor  a  governor.  On  Friday  night  after 
the  election,  the  negroes  had  a  dance  and  entertainment  at  Mr. 
Knox's,  in  Hartford,  at  an  expense  of  50.<.,  ■which  was  paid  by  others, 
and  Gov.  Skeen's  negroes  were  not  allowed  fo  pay  anything.  This 
bill  was  paid  by  Majors  French  and  Dermct;  which  facts  were  stated 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  by  Jesse  Root  Esq.,  Chairman,  May 
22d,  1776." 

Curious,  Reader,  is  it  not?  You  will  laugh  and 
wonder,  no  doubt — perhaps  inquire  what  on  the  whole 
was  the  influence  of  the  custom  under  consideration  ? 
Well,  we  are  satisfied  from  all  we  have  heard  that  this 
influence  T\'as  a  useful  one.  "  It  kept  the  blacks  in 
good  order,"  say  many  old  gentlemen  to  us,  "  while  it 
at  the  same  time  innocently  gratified  their  fondness 
for  enjoyment."  Their  peace  justices  or  Squires,  as 
they  were  called,  really  at  times  entertained  important 


44  BLACK     GOVERNORS. 

cases,  but  decided  them  most  generally  with  a  leaning 
towards  severity.  Here  is  a  case  illustrating  this  last 
statement.  A  bjack  in  Hartford,  who  had  been  guilty 
of  thieving,  was  taken  before  Jonathan  Bull  Esq.,  for 
trial.  "Better  carry  him  down  to  Squire  Nep,"  said 
]\L-.  Bull.  It  was  accordingly  done.  Now  Nep,  or 
Neptune  as  he  was  called  at  length,  was  a  black  justice 
of  the  peace — a  barber  by  trade,  and  noted  for  his  in- 
tegrity, sternness,  and  influence  with  those  of  his  own 
color.  He  was  much  respected  too  by  the  whites. 
Squii'e  Nep  heard  the  case,  ordered  the  criminal  to 
give  up  all  his  tobacco  and  his  gun  by  way  of  restitu- 
tion, and  sentenced  him  to  receive  thirty  lashes  on  his 
bare  back.  This  sentence  was  carried  into  effect  on 
the  South  Green — by  candle  light.  The  lashes  were 
put  on,  says  our  informant,  "  most  unmercifully" — and 
though  the  candle  went  out  two  or  three  times  during 
the  process,  it  was  re-lighted,  that  the  sentence  might 
be  carried  into  full  effect.  A  threat  to  be  carried  to 
"  old  Nep,"  always  operated  as  a  terror  to  the  blacks, 
and  kept  them  orderly. 

We  have  got  a  well-behaved  set  of  them  now,  taken 
as  a  ^vhole — it  is  certain.  Many  of  them  are  "  prime" 
in  a  better  than  a  mercantile  sense.  Our  city  is  in 
this  respect  favored.  Sc^va. 


|iartfar!&. 


MAP    OF   THE   TOWN   IN    1640. 

Xo.  5. 

"  Cities  and  towns,  the  various  haunts  of  men, 
Require  the  pencil ;  they  defy  the  pen. 

*        *        *        *      Can  we  so  describe 
That  you  may  fairly  streets  and  buildings  trace, 
And  all  that  gives  distinction  to  a  place  ? 
This  cannot  be ;  yet  moved  by  your  request, 
A  part  I  paint — let  Fancy  form  the  rest." 

Crabbe. 

We  promised  it  to  you,  Reader — and  here  it  is — a 
Map  of  Hartford,  as  it  appeared  two  hundred  and 
thirteen  years  ago!  It  is  the  same,  "with  reverend 
mosses  gray,"  to  which  we  referred  in  Article  Third  of 
our  Historical  Series. 

December  10th,  1838,  its  execution  was  ordered  by 
the  Town,  upon  a  motion  made  by  om*  venerable  and 
respected  fellow-citizen,  James  Ward  Esq.,  who  has 
ever  been  honorably  distinguished  for  his  thoughtful- 
ness  and  devotion  in  throwing  light  upon  the  past.  It 
was  voted  "  that  the  Selectmen  be  authorized  to  pro- 
cme  a  Survey  of  our  Town  as  originally  laid  out,  with 
reference  to  its  ancient  history,  and  with  the  altera- 
tions in  its  public  roads  since  that  time,  at  an  expense 


46  HARTFORD. 

not  exceeding  three  hnndred  dollars."  December  30th, 
1839,  Mr.  Ward,  and  Messrs.  Nathaniel  Goodwin, 
Alfred  Smith,  and  James  B.  Hosmer,  were  appointed 
a  Committee  to  carry  this  vote  into  effect,  and  for  this 
pm-pose  engaged  the  services  of  William  S.  Porter 
Esq.,  of  Farmington. 

jVIr.  Porter  has  been  long  and  favorably  known  as  a 
careful  investigator  of  records,  and  as  a  skilful  survey- 
or and  mapper.  He  entered  upon  his  task,  and  from 
deeds  and  historic  memorials,  with  patience  and  ex- 
actness, accomplished  it,  perfecting  the  map  as  he  pro- 
gressed, in  all  cases  of  doubt,  by  surveys  made  by 
himself.  And  he  has  recently,  in  preparation  for  its 
publication,  carefully  reviewed  it  in  connection  with 
his  own  notes  and  memoranda,  and  rendered  it  un- 
questionably accurate.  With  our  worthy  Town  Treas- 
urer, we  carefully  corrected  its  proof  impressions,  com- 
pared the  Map  with  our  records,  and  can  testify,  as 
can  many  others  who  have  examined  it,  that  it  is  a 
most  reliable  topographical  picture  of  Hartford  in  its 
infancy.  In  the  ancestral  and  historical  associations 
which  it  cannot  fail  to  awaken,  you  will  be  able. 
Reader,  we  trust,  to  lay  up  for  yourself  a  store  of 
comfort.  By  it  you  can  pleasantly  contrast  Hartford 
as  it  was,  with  Hartford  as  it  is,  especially  with  the 
aid  of  Smith's  recent  Map  of  our  City.  Upon  it  you 
will  find,  many  of  you,  the  very  spots — designated  on 
the  ]\Iap  by  little  squares — on  which  the  dwellings  of 
your  ancestors  stood,  when  the  wilderness  and  the 
savage  howled  around  them.  Was  your  Grandfather, 
Reader,  generations  back,  located  on  this  spot — or  on 
that — or  on  that — or  on  which  ?     Look  on  the  Map, 


■         -'w        Til  _     ■  ' 

f'«,'--''j!rs.K£":~":'. '',"•'■ 


• 


jr  A  P    O  F    T  H  E    T  O  AV  N    I  X    1  6  4  0  .  47 

and  find  the  homestead  of  the  "  Stock  from  which 
you  sprung  I" 

"  JIark  his  old  mansion,  frowning  tlu'ough  the  trees" — 

and  as  you  wander  over  and  around  it,  seek  sweet  in- 
spiration from  those  household  deities 

"  whose  giiardian  eye 
Marks  each  pure  thoi;ght,  ere  registered  on  high," 

and  sing  fancies  to  the  consecrated  spot,  and  sigh  and 
strive  for  a  life  pure  as  that  passed  by  the  first  Settlers 
of  Hartford.*  Sceva. 


*  The  Map — through  the  ready  contributions  of  a  few  gentlemen  interested 
in  the  object,  and  especially  of  Messrs  Boswell  &  Faxon — was  first  published 
in  a  beautiful  form,  on  the  sheet  of  the  Hartford  Daily  Courant,  after  having 
been  lithographed  by  Messrs  Case  &  Green,  of  this  city,  with  a  taste  and 
skill  and  exactness,  in  all  respects  woiihy  of  the  beautiful  art  which  they 
profess. 


QiiT 


artfarlr. 


ITS  FIRST  ORGANIZATION,  CIVIL  AND  RELIGIOUS. 

No.  6. 

"  Law  is  the  faint  reflection  in  man's  turbid  mind 
Of  the  bright  Order  first  by  Heaven  designed; 
Religion  tlie  deep  homage  of  his  finite  soul 

In  a\rful  reverence  of  the  Supreme  control." 

Anon. 

"  England,  sir,  is  a  nation  livhich  still  I  hope  respects,  and  formerly  adored, 
her  freedom.  The  Colonists  emigrated  from  you  when  this  part  of  your 
character  was  most  predominant:  and  they  took  their  bias  and  direction  the 
moment  they  parted  fi-om  your  hands." 

Speech  of  Edmund  Burke. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  Town  records,  previ- 
ous to  1639,  are  but  exceedingly  few  in  number. 
Printed  altogether  they  would  occupy  but  little  more 
than  a  half-page  of  this  work.  From  these  however, 
from  those  of  the  General  Court,  and  from  references 
to  the  past  and  implications  in  records  ^vhich  succeed 
the  founding  of  the  town,  we  are  able  to  glean  an 
idea  of  its  first  organization.  We  have  already  re- 
ferred to  Settlers  as  preceding  Hooker  and  his  party. 
Who  were  they  ?  How  many  of  them  ?  Enough,  we 
answer,  to  have  commenced  an  organization  town- 
wise,  and,  in  connection  with  Windsor  and  Wethers- 
field,  statewise.  Previous  to  June,  1636,  they  held 
7 


50 


HARTFORD. 


town  meetings — one,  the  earliest,  bearing  date  1635. 
Previous  to  this  time  also  they  elected  members  of  a 
General  Com-t,  which  was  held,  the  first  one  in  our 
State,  in  Hartford,  April  6th,  1636.*     But  everything 


*  The  two  members  of  this  Court  from  Hartford,  ■were  John  Steele  and 
WiUiam  Westwood.  The  following  notices  of  these  men,  are  from  the  pen  of 
Hon.  Thomas  Day,  of  this  city. 

"John  Steele,  one  of  the  Commissioners  from  ^^lassachusetts  for  governing 
the  contemplated  settlement  in  Connecticut,  was  a  respectable  and  useful 
magistrate,  though  not  a  great  or  learned  man.  He  was  admitted  a  freeman 
in  Massachusetts,  in  May,  1634.  In  March,  1635,  and  again  in  September 
following,  he  was  a  deputy  from  Newtown  in  the  general  court  of  that  col- 
ony. [1  Winth.  285,  «.]  He  came  to  Connecticut  and  settled  in  Hartford, 
either  in  October,  1635,  or  early  in  the  spring  of  1636.  He  was  present  at 
the  first  general  court  held  under  the  commission,  in  April,  1636,  and  attend- 
ed everj'  other  court  during  the  continuance  of  that  instrument.  His  name 
appears  also  among  the  magistrates  in  the  general  court,  held  on  the  1st  of 
ilay,  1637.  He  was  afterwards  a  member  of  that  body,  in  the  capacity  of 
deputy,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  his  last  attendance  being  in  March,  1659. 
[1  &  2  Col.  Rec.  passim.] 

"  He  was  the  tirst  Secretary  of  the  government,  and  the  first  town-clerk  of 
the  towTi  of  Hartford. 

"In  1644,  he  was  associated  with  Edward  Hopkins,  John  Haynes,  John 
Mason  and  James  Boosey,  as  agents  of  the  government,  to  treat  with  George 
Fenwick  for  the  transfer  of  the  fort  at  Saybrook,  with  its  appurtenances;  and, 
in  that  capacity,  he  was  a  party  to  the  agreement  of  December  5th,  1644. 
[1  Trumb.  538.  541.] 

"  His  homestead  in  Hartford,  containmg  two  acres,  abutted,  in  the  language 
of  the  record,  '  on  the  highway  leading  from  the  Palisado  to  the  meeting- 
house, on  the  West;  on  the  alley  to  the  meeting-house,  on  the  East;  on  the 
land  of  Mr.  Goodwin  and  Mr.  Stone,  on  the  South ;  and  on  Clement  Chap- 
lin's land,  on  the  Noi-th:'  comprehending  the  greater  part  of  the  land  on  the 
East  side  of  Main  Street,  between  Wadsworth's  alley  and  Grove  Street,  and 
extending  Eastward  a  few  rods  beyond  Prospect  Street.  [  Orig.  Distrib.  461. 
474.] 

"  In  the  year  1651,  he  removed  to  Farmington,  and  there  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  daj's.     He  died  in  1664. 

"  William  Westicood  was  a  native  of  Essex  county,  in  England ;  whence  he 
migrated  to  this  country  in  or  about  the  year  1632,  and  settled  at  Newtown, 
Mass. — since  Cambridge.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1635,  he  was  admitted  a  free- 
man of  that  community .    [2  Winth.  364.  app.]   He  removed  to  Connecticut,  and 


ITS     FIRST     ORGANIZATION.  51 

with  these  first  emigrants  was  comparatively  feeble 
and  inefficient,  "  scarce  half  made  up,"  until  the  arriv- 
al of  Hooker  and  his  party,  who,  from  their  superior 
numbers,  preparation,  influence,  and  firmness  of  estab- 
lishment, are  justly  looked  upon  as  the  Founders  of 
our  town.  They  infused  new  activity,  skill,  knowl- 
edge and  confidence,  into  the  infant  plantation.  On 
their  arrival  the  Settlement  ceased  to  grope.  It  began 
to  look  upon  the  light,  to  breathe  freely,  to  sink  deep- 
ly the  pillars  of  Church  and  State,  and  to  clutch  them 
with  a  firm  grasp.  Its  aspect  now,  nearly  as  we  can, 
though  scantily  of  course  from  want  of  materials,  we 
wiU  present. 

The    organization    of    the    town   was    democratic, 
purely  so  as  regards  the  action  of  those  -who,  as  In- 

settled  at  Hartford,  either  in  the  fall  of  1635,  or  eai-ly  in  the  spring  of  1636. 
He  was  present  at  the  first  court  held  in  Connecticut,  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1636.  He  attended  also  every  subsequent  court,  during  the  continuance  of 
the  commission;  but  his  name  does  not  appear  among  the  magistrates,  after 
its  expiration.  He  was,  however,  a  deputy  from  Hartford,  in  the  years  1642, 
1643,  1644,  1646,  1648,  and  for  the  last  time,  in  1656. 

"  In  1639,  he  was  one  of  the  select-men  of  the  town  of  Hartford ;  and  was 
chosen  to  that  office  once  or  twice  afterwards.  His  name  appears  occasion- 
ally as  one  of  the  jurors  in  the  trial  of  causes  before  the  particular  court. 

"  His  home-lot  in  Hai-tford,  consisting  of  three  acres,  was  on  the  West  side 
of  '  the  highway  leading  from  the  little  river  to  the  North  meadow,'  now 
Front  Street,  with  a  cart-way  through  it  to  Sentinel  Hill,  being  nearly  or  quite 
where  Morgan  Street  now  is. 

"  In  or  about  the  year  1658,  he  removed  to  Hadley,  JIass.,  where  he  spent 
the  residue  of  his  life.  In  1659,  he  was  one  of  the  committee  for  laying  out 
home-lots  in  that  town ;  and  was  often  employed  on  other  committees  in  pub- 
lic service.    In  1663,  he  was  one  of  the  select-men  of  Hadley. 

"  He  died  at  Hadley,  April  9th,  1669,  aged  about  sixty-two.  His  wife 
Bridget,  died  May  12th,  1676.  He  had  one  daughter,  Sarah,  who  married 
Aaron  Cook,  son  of  Capt  Aaron  Cook,  of  Northampton.  To  her  he  gave  by 
will  all  his  lands  in  Hartford.  Her  son,  Aaron  Cook,  inheritmg  from  her  the 
same  lands,  removed  to  Hartford,  and  settled  thereon." 


52 


HARTFORD. 


habitants,  framed  it,  and  set  it  in  motion.  But  who 
constituted  Inhabitants,  and  as  such  participated  in 
the  construction  ?     The  question  is  an  important  one. 

No  persons,  we  answer,  but  those  who  were  admit- 
ted as  such  by  a  vote  of  the  town  in  public  meeting. 
The  Settlers  were  peculiarly  careful  and  circumspect 
with  regard  to  this  matter.  No  idler,  pauper,  beggar, 
vagrant  or  vagabond,  no  vicious  or  abandoned  person, 
coming  to  the  place,  stood  the  least  chance  of  gaining 
a  settlement  with  them,  or  of  being  permitted  even  to 
tarry.  Even  any  young  man,  unmarried,  no  matter 
w^hat  his  character,  could  not  sojourn  in  any  family 
without  allowance  from  the  town — nor  could  he, 
though  belonging  to  the  town,  keep  house  by  himself, 
under  a  penalty  of  tsventy  shillings,  unless  he  had  a 
servant  or  was  a  public  officer.  It  was  a  great  object 
with  the  Settlers  to  keep  their  body  pure,  and,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  found  it  on  the  family — an  object  \\'hich 
it  has  been  the  policy  of  our  Town  and  State  to  se- 
cure ever  since,  and  which  has  always  figured  conspic- 
uously in  our  jurisprudence. 

We  now  permit  no  aliens  to  acquire  a  settlement 
with  us,  but  by  a  vote  of  our  inhabitants,  or  the  con- 
sent of  a  majority  of  our  civil  authority  and  Select- 
men. We  receive  no  one,  as  an  inhabitant,  from  any 
other  State  or  District  or  Ten-itory  of  the  United 
States,  nor  even  from  any  other  town  in  our  own 
State,  but  upon  certain  express  and  watchful  condi- 
tions. We  shut  out  paupers  from  other  towns  and 
other  States,  so  far  as  we  can,  and  forbid  the  entertain- 
ment, harboring  or  hire  of  all  persons  whom  we  have 


ITS     FIRST     ORGANIZATION. 


53 


once  removed,  or  Avarned  to  depart.  We  do  not,  it  is 
true,  treat  young  bachelors  as  did  the  Founders  of  our 
town — not  deeming  them  so  young,  if  they  behave 
themselves,  as  not  to  be  useful  inhabitants,  nor  so  icy 
as  not  to  be  melted  into  wedlock  by  the  rays  of  love, 
K  we  did,  we  should  have  a  nest  of  them  about  our 
ears  directly,  buzzing  and  fretting  like  so  many  angry 
bees,  and  should  encounter  also  the  somewhat  dead- 
ened sting  of  a  few  old  ones  in  the  hive,  whose  enfee- 
bled, not  to  say  fussy  wings,  fail  to  lift  them  into  the 
nuptial  state.  But  the  principle  of  all  our  legislation 
with  regard  to  inhabitancy  was  established,  as  appears, 
with  Hartford  itself.  It  has  come  down  to  us,  modi- 
fied in  its  application,  but  unimpaired  in  vitality — an 
essential,  conservative  principle,  whose  useful  opera- 
tion it  is  to  protect  morals,  to  promote  intelligence, 
and  guard  against  expense. 

Constituted  as  we  have  described,  the  first  Inhabit- 
ants of  Hartford  made  their  own  assemblage  the  me- 
dium of  their  legislation.  They  established  the  Town 
Meeting — that  little  primitive  nursery  of  republican 
truth,  whose  fruit  now  feeds  and  thrills  the  free  soul  of 
every  man,  woman  and  child  among  us.  They  made 
it  the  duty  of  every  man  who  was  an  Inhabitant  to 
attend  it — under  penalty  of  a  fine,  without  good  ex- 
cuse for  each  act  of  failure — nor  would  they  allow 
him  to  leave  the  meeting  until  its  conclusion,  without 
sufficient  reason.  The  fine  in  this  case  was  at  first 
small — but  sLxpence — yet  its  imposition  indicates  a 
strong  sense  of  public  duty.  Every  man,  the  Found- 
ers of  Hartford  thought,  was  interested,  and  deeply,  in 


54 


HARTFORD. 


the  town — was  bound  to  be  acquainted  with  its  affairs, 
to  participate  in  them  both  by  counsel  and  with  will — 
was  to  contribute  actively  towards  their  due  adminis- 
tration. Alas  that  such  is  not  more  generally  the  feel- 
ing now  I 

The  officers  first  created  by  the  town  for  the  admin- 
istration of  its  affairs,  were  Toionsmen,  Constables,  one 
or  more,  Surveijors,  C/iimnei/-Vieivers,  and  occasional- 
ly Committees  and  Arbitrators.  The  duties  of  Towns- 
men were,  in  general,  similar  to  those  of  our  Select- 
men at  the  present  day,  but  were  more  extensive. 
Exempted  from  training,  watching  and  warding,  they 
were  "  to  order  the  common  occasions  of  the  town"  in 
all  cases  except  those  involving  the  admission  of  new 
inhabitants,  taxes,  the  grant  of  lands,  and  the  altera- 
tion of  highways.  These  matters  were  reserved  for 
meetings  of  the  town.  They  were  also  to  exercise  a 
supervision,  somewhat  minute,  over  the  morals,  man- 
ners, and  even  the  private  affaii's  of  inhabitants — a 
supervision  which,  though  not  now  tolerated  to  its  for- 
mer extent,  is  yet  a  part  of  our  present  municipal  sys- 
tem, and  is  seen  spread  out  upon  our  Statute-Book  in 
its  application  to  taverners,  victualling-house  keepers, 
lunatics,  spendthrifts,  children  employed  in  factories, 
paupers,  vagabonds,  and  resun*ectionists.  The  rest  of 
the  town  functionaries  mentioned,  explain  themselves 
sufficiently  by  tlieir  titles.  Their  duties  were  in  all 
respects  like  those  of  similar  officers  in  our  own  day, 
but  it  was  much  more  common  at  first  than  now,  to 
appoint  temporary  committees  for  the  execution  of 
municipal  purposes,  and  to  settle  differences  among 
inhabitants  by  an  appeal  to  arbitration.     Besides  these 


ITS     FIRST     ORGANIZATION.  55 

already  mentioned,  the  town  had  two  other  annual 
officers.  These  were  its  Deputies  or  Representatives 
to  the  General  Court,  who,  in  common  with  other 
Deputies  from  Windsor  and  Wethersfield,  regulated 
the  general  concerns  of  the  united  towns,  provided  for 
their  common  defence,  and  acted  judicially  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  estates,  and  for  the  settlement  of  im- 
portant, but  sometimes  even  of  trivial  differences. 

From  the  two  sources  now  indicated,  the  Town  As- 
sembly and  the  General  Court,  all  the  laws  and  regu- 
lations of  Hartford  as  a  town,  emanated  from  the  be- 
ginning. It  is  worthy  of  remark,  however  obvious, 
that  the  same  are  the  two  present  fountains  of  all  its 
civil  action.  With  wisdom  and  foresight,  and  in  a 
spirit  truly  just  and  patriotic,  the  Fathers  of  Hartford 
established  them — blasted  them  through  the  rocks  of 
a  wilderness  into  a  well  of  republican  truth,  whose 
waters  have  gushed  unfailingly  to  irrigate  and  bless  a 
town  freedom  of  more  than  two  centuries. 

The  earliest  town  laws  passed,  relate  to  the  duties 
of  town  officers,  inhabitants  and  householders,  to 
grants  of  house-lots  and  lands,  to  the  employment  of 
men  and  cattle  in  public  service,  to  rates  of  wages,  to 
taxes,  highways,  fences,  to  stray  swine  and  cattle,  to 
pounds,  to  defence,  and  to  trade  with  the  Indians. 

There  were  doubtless  also  laws  relating  to  schools, 
though  none  of  them  are  preserved  previous  to  1642, 
at  which  time  "  thirty  pounds  a  year,"  are  settled  up- 
on "  the  town  school."  This  entry,  as  well  as  numer- 
ous succeeding  entries,  and  the  character  and  circum- 
stances of  the  Settlers,  plainly  indicate  that  among 


56  HARTFORD. 

the  earliest  subjects  which  claimed  their  attention,  that 
of  education  was  one.  The  School-House  doubtless 
stood  side  by  side  in  formation  with  the  Chm-ch — and 
had  its  master  too,  of  whom 

"  The  village  all  declared  how  much  he  knew; 
'Twas  certain  he  could  read  and  cipher  too; 
Lands  he  could  measure,  terms  and  times  presage, 
And  even  the  story  ran  that  he  could  gauge." 

Blessed,  thrice  blessed  be  the  Founders  of  Hartford, 
that  they  established  the  School — that  noble  instru- 
mentality which  not  alone  made  their  own  immediate 
settlement  successful,  but  which  has  been  woven,  as 
with  gold  and  steel,  into  the  web  of  our  prosperity  to 
the  present  day,  and  which — while  many  of  our  sister 
States  have  their  twenties,  and  thirties,  and  forties, 
and  even  fifties  of  thousands  to  whom  books  are  a 
sealed  letter  and  paper  a  blank — makes  it  the  proud 
boast,  not  alone  of  Hartford,  but  of  every  citizen  of 
Connecticut,  in  a  territory  numbering  nearly  four  hun- 
dred thousand  souls,  that  here  is  a  State  in  ivhich  but 
about  three  hundred  of  its  native  population  cannot  read 
and  ivrite  I  * 

There  is  nothing  peculiar  in  the  laws  of  Hartford, 
at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  which  has  not  already 
been  noted  in  connection  with  other  topics,  save  that 
which  relates  to  defence.  The  Indians  in  and  around 
the  town,  though  generally  friendly,  were  many  of 
them  thievish,  and  at  times  menacing.     Bands  too  of 

*  The  computation  in  the  text  includes  all  incapacitated  by  idiocy  or  dis- 
ease of  any  description,  as  well  as  those  who  from  other  causes  do  not  know 
how  to  read  and  write. 


ITS     FIRST     ORGANIZATION.  57 

marauding  INIohawks  or  Pequots,  hostile  in  their  dis- 
position, would  occasionally  appear  and  create  alarm. 
It  was  necessary  therefore  to  keep  up  a  constant 
watch.  Their  chief  positions  were  on  Centinel  Hill 
at  the  corner  in  North  Main  Street  near  Messrs  Tut- 
tle's  store — in  South  Main  Street  just  below  the  South 
Congregational  Church — and  on  Charter  Oak  Hill.  It 
is  tradition  that  the  locations  of  the  sentries  at  Tut- 
tle's  corner,  and  below  the  Chm-ch  mentioned,  were  in 
two  elm  trees,  now  remembered  by  many  inhabitants, 
within  the  crotches  of  each  of  which  sentry-boxes 
were  placed,  so  that  the  watch  could  easily  communi- 
cate by  signals,  and  distinctly  see  the  flash  of  a  pistol, 
from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other.  Every  male 
inhabitant  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  with  exceptions 
in  favor  of  certain  magistrates  and  of  Church  officers, 
was  to  take  his  turn  as  watchman.  A  guard  besides, 
with  arms  fixed,  and  two  charges  at  least  of  powder 
and  shot,  were  to  attend  "  upon  every  publique  meet- 
ing for  religious  use."  They  were  to  be  free  from  other 
wardings,  to  have  seats  provided  for  them  near  the 
Meeting- House  door,  and  were  to  have  in  their  em- 
ploy tAvo  servants,  one  of  whom  was  to  act  as  "  sente- 
naU  every  meeting."  Besides  all  these  precautions,  it 
was  forbidden  to  any  man  to  "  trade  with  the  natives 
or  Indians  any  peece  or  pistoll  or  gunn  or  powder  or 
shott."  It  was  deemed  dangerous  to  supply  Indians 
with  weapons  so  formidable.  They  were  "  mortal  en- 
gines whose  rude  throats" — "  nearer,  clearer,  deadlier" 
in  their  notes  than  whizzing  arrows — ^were  prudently 
reserved  for  the  -white  man's  use  alone.  It  is  not 
probable,  in  the  first  settlement  of  our  town,  that  their 
8 


58  HARTFORD. 

roar  often  "  opened"  in  the  clang  of  conflict  with  any 
sons  of  the  forest. 

A  few  words  now  on  the  first  religious  organization 
of  Hartford.  This  was  purely  Congregational,  and 
we  may  add  also,  purely  republican.  Non-conform- 
ists all  to  the  liturgy,  ceremonies  and  discipline  of  the 
Church  of  England,  though  firm  believers  in  its  faith — 
feeling  that  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  was  "  marred 
by  association  with  the  display  of  surplices,  caps, 
copes  and  cassocks" — the  Settlers  claimed  the  right, 
independently  of  all  external  or  foreign  power,  to 
choose  and  establish  their  own  ministers,  to  enact 
their  own  ecclesiastical  laws,  and  exercise  their  own 
discipline — and  so,  with  a  Pastor,  Teacher,  Ruling 
Elder,  and  Deacons,  for  officers,  in  a  Meeting- House 
which  those  who  preceded  Hooker  and  his  party 
had  already  erected,  they  started  the  first  systema- 
tized Church  of  God  in  this  then  "  wilderness  town." 
Then'  Deacons  were  as  deacons  now,  but  their  Pastor 
and  their  Teacher  were  somewhat  peculiar  in  their 
functions.  Exhortation  chiefly  was  the  duty  of  the 
former — it  was  his  province  to  work  on  the  will  and 
the  affections.  The  latter  was  the  Doctor  in  ecclesia, 
as  he  was  styled — it  was  his  province  to  teach,  explain 
and  defend  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  The  Rul- 
ing Elder,  who  was  ordained  with  all  the  solemnity  of 
a  Pastor  or  Teacher,  was  "  to  assist  in  the  government 
of  the  church,  to  watch  over  all  its  members,  to  pre- 
pare and  bring  forward  all  cases  of  discipline,  to  visit 
and  pray  with  the  sick,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Pastor  and  Teacher,  to  pray  with  the  congregation 
and  expound  the  Scriptures."     The  views  of  the  Set- 


ITS     FIRST     ORGANIZATION.  59 

tiers  on  ordination,  baptism,  the  atonement,  on  Chris- 
tian duties,  on  repentance,  on  ecclesiastical  power  and 
discipline,  their  solemn  mode  of  Covenanting,  their 
imposing  Confession  of  Faith  avouching  "  the  Lord 
Jehovah,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  to  be  their  Sov- 
ereign Lord  and  Supreme  Good,"  will  receive  no  com- 
ment at  our  hands.  We  are,  we  frankly  concede,  "  in 
school-divinity  not  able,"  nor  is  our  heart,  perhaps, 
precisely  attuned  to  the  task.  We  have  assigned  it 
therefore,  with  his  consent,  to  the  charge  of  a  gentle- 
man peculiarly  fitted  to  perform  it,  on  whom,  in  view 
of  his  long,  useful  and  unaffected  life  of  piety  as  a 
Congregational  clergyman,  the  mantle  of  Hooker  may 
be  said  to  have  fallen,  and  to  be  worn  with  grace  and 
dignity.* 

Yet  we  cannot  dismiss  this  topic  without  paying  our 
tribute  to  the  fidelity,  integrity  and  zeal,  at  its  com- 
mencement, of  the  first  church  in  Hartford.     It  pro- 

*  We  refer  to  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Robbins,  now  the  Librarian  of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society.  Perhaps  he  will  think  it  was  our  province  to 
speak  of  the  Tithing-inan,  since  the  duty  of  this  officer — that  of  taking  care 
of  "  boys  plaj'ing  or  misbehaving  in  or  out  and  around  the  meeting-house" — 
was  more  civil  than  religious  in  its  cliaracter.  But  we  confess  to  a  great 
aversion  towards  this  functionary.  We  have  an  unpleasant  memory  of  one, 
a  tall,  strong,  most  demure-looking  personage,  who,  in  our  boyhood,  once 
screwed  our  right  ear  between  his  bony  fingers  till  it  almost  gushed  blood — 
and  aU  because  we  laughed  a  little  loiider,  and  with  less  impediment  than  the 
rest  of  the  congregation,  when  one  of  the  catguts  of  a  bass-viol  snapped 
asunder,  with  a  loud  and  ludicrous  twang,  in  the  midst  of  a  grave  "  Hallelu- 
jah." We  commit  the  Tithing-man  gladly  to  you,  Doctor!  Don't  speak  well 
of  him,  pray,  if  you  can  help  it !  Especially  forbear  to  trace  him  back  to  the 
good  old  Saxon  times  of  King  Alfred !  We  would  not  have  him  legitimated 
for  the  world ! 

[Since  the  preceding  was  written,  the  Doctor  has  accomplished  the  task 
suggested.    We  hope  he  will  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  his  labor.    Ed.] 


60  HARTFORD. 

moted  piety,  good  morals  and  knowledge  in  an  emin- 
ent degree — and  this  too,  without  that  severity  and 
bitterness  of  doctrinal  disputation,  which  afterwards, 
it  must  be  conceded,  characterized  it  at  times,  and 
which  served,  soon  after  Mr.  Hooker's  death,  to  stir  up 
the  pools  of  uncharitableness,  and  split  the  town*- in 
twain.  But  hardly  an  act  of  vice  or  immorality  de- 
formed the  first  stage  of  our  existence  as  a  town — a 
fact  to  be  attributed  in  great  part  to  the  influence  of  a 
religion  happily  administered.  Though  the  ministry 
were  "  Aveighty  and  abundant  in  prayer,"  their  voices 
seem  to  have  fallen  on  hearts  sweetly  attuned  to  the 
notes  of  supplication.  Though  they  kept  in  public 
and  in  private  numerous  fasts,  abstinence  from  food 
seems  never  to  have  dulled  their  appetite  for  religious 
meditation.  Though  they  compelled  all  to  "  go  to 
meeting,"  even  this  pious  despotism  generated  no  re- 
bellion. Though  they  laboriously  and  almost  daily 
seasoned  the  little  ones  of  their  flock  with  the  condi- 
ment of  what  afterwards  formed  the  Catechism  of 
Westminster,*  "  Larger  and  Shorter,"  yet  the  children 
do  not  seem  to  have  disrelished  the  banquet.  If  they 
refused  to  wear  the  canonical  square  cap,  the  scholar's 
gown,   priest-like,  the    tippet    and  the    linen  surplice, 

*  Mr.  Hooker,  together  M'ith  Mr.  Davenport  and  Mr.  Cotton,  of  New  En- 
gland, were  invited  to  sit  in  tliat  famous  Assembly  of  Divines  which  convened 
at  Westminster,  London,  in  1642,  and  gave  to  the  Christian  world  the  famous 
digests,  referred  to  in  the  text,  of  religious  faith  and  practice.  Mr.  Hooker, 
quotes  his  biographer  from  Hutchinson,  "  did  not  like  the  business,  and 
thought  it  not  a  sufficient  call,  to  go  a  thousand  leagues  to  confer  about  mat- 
ters of  church  government."  Being  a  pure  Congregationalist,  he  was  a  little 
afraid,  doubtless,  that  the  Assembly  would  be  too  deeply  imbued  with  Pres- 
byterianism. 


ITS      FIRST     ORGANIZATION.  61 

something  must  be  allowed  to  their  memory  of  the 
Council  Table,  the  Star  Chamber,  and  the  Court  of 
High  Commissions.  It  is  certain  that,  though  they 
kept  not  "  the  unity  of  apparel,"  they  kept  the  unity 
of  faith — and  as  they  stood  before  their  Maker  in  sim- 
ple attire,  with  white  neckcloths,  and  broad,  white, 
pendent  bands,  or  perhaps,  like  Davenport,  with  dark, 
cross-barred  hoods  interlacing  with  their  locks  of  hau', 
the  good  God,  we  doubt  not,  listened  to  their  cry  as 
freely  and  mercifully  as  if  they  had  been  habited  in 
all  the  ecclesiastical  "  decencies"  of  the  land  from 
which  they  had  fled.  At  all  events,  he  blessed  them 
in  their  beginning. 

Thus  much  on  the  civil  and  religious  organization 
of  Hartford  when  it  started  upon  its  career  as  a  tow^n. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  there  are  scarce  any  mu- 
nicipal principles  operating  daily  with  us  now  which 
may  not  be  traced  back  to  this  primitive  period.  Mod- 
ified they  were,  sometimes  singularly,  by  circumstan- 
ces. This  is  to  be  expected — w^as  necessary.  But 
there  they  were  among  the  Settlers,  and  here  they  are 
now  among  us— working  out  all  those  grand  and 
beautiful  results  which,  each  day  and  hour  and  min- 
ute, gladden  our  eyes  and  hearts.  We  have  each  our 
due  share  of  republican  powder — so  had  the  first  Set- 
tlers. Though  they  came  here  nominally  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  they  were  beyond  it — and  the  old  Bay  State  nev- 
er got  one  aid  or  subsidy,  neither  scutage,  hydage  or 
talliage,  first-fruit  or  tenth,  fish  or  fowl,  waif  or  estray, 
not  even  a  pepper-corn,  in  token  of  municipal  fealty 
from  Hartford  I     We  exercise  our  civil  power  through 


62  HARTFORD. 

the  organism  of  an  Assembly — so  did  the  Settlers — 
by  means  of  functionaries  of  om*  own  choice — so  did 
they.  We  are  fully  protected  in  life,  limb,  property 
and  reputation — so  Avere  they.  We  are  fully  encour- 
aged in  social  and  industrial  activity — so  were  they. 
We  can  acquire,  exchange,  accumulate  in  security  and 
in  hope,  and  lay  up  for  our  families,  for  old  age,  and 
our  biers — so  could  they.  We  receive  for  our  children 
the  boon  of  education — so  did  they.  We  are  hedged 
in  conservatively  by  walls  of  good  morals — so  were 
they.  We  breathe,  in  short,  an  atmosphere  of  liberty, 
labor,  virtue  and  religion.     So  did  they. 

SciEVA. 


artforti. 


ITS  FIRST  MILITARY  ORGANIZATION. 

No.  7. 

"  Civil  governments,  in  their  first  institutions,  are  voluntary  associations 
for  mutual  defence."  Gibbon. 

"  If  we  desire  to  avoid  insult,  we  must  be  able  to  repel  it ;  if  we  desire  to 
secure  peace,  it  must  be  known  that  we  are  at  all  times  ready  for  war." 

Washington. 

Anglo-Saxon  like,  the  Settlers  of  Hartford  at  once 
established  a  militia,  and  their  idea  of  its  organization 
and  purpose  was  fundamentally  republican.  It  recog- 
nized the  right  of  resistance  and  self-preservation  in 
all  cases  in  which  the  sanctions  of  society  and  the 
laws  are  found  insufficient  to  restrain  the  violence  of 
oppression — and  not  only  guaranteed,  but  practically 
enforced  that  great  protective  right  which  figures  so 
conspicuously  in  all  free  constitutions,  and  is  the  ef- 
fective check  to  assumption  and  arbitrary  power,  the 
jight  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms.  No  stand- 
ing army  in  time  of  peace  as  a  body  distinct  from  the 
people — they  designed  it  not.  No  camp  or  barracks 
and  fortresses  to  be  kept  up,  at  enormous  expense,  for 
the  separate  life  of  men  bred  exclusively  to  the  profes- 


64 


HARTFORD. 


sion  of  arms,  to  afford  to  ambitions  and  unprincipled 
rulers  the  ready  means  of  subverting  liberty,  and 
trampling  on  human  rights — the  Settlers  would  have 
none  of  this.  No  inconvenient  and  perilous  billetings 
of  soldiers  upon  the  people  in  time  of  peace,  the  ready 
resort  of  despotic  power — they  abominated  this,  and 
with  memories,  many  of  them,  freshened  by  bitter  ex- 
perience in  the  Old  World.  But  in  their  intent  the 
citizen  and  the  soldier  were  to  be  united — the  hearth 
and  the  camp  were  in  this  view  to  join  their  blaze — 
and  a  militia,  well  ordered  and  patriotic,  was  to  act 
solely  for  the  safeguard  and  defence  of  their  little 
community. 

With  a  few  exceptions  then,  in  fsivor  of  certain 
magistrates  and  church  officers,  every  male  person  be- 
tween the  ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty  was  to  perform 
military  duty  once  a  month — was  to  keep  his  arms, 
subject  to  inspection,  always  in  a  serviceable  state, 
and  to  have  in  his  house,  in  readiness,  two  pounds  of 
powder  and  twenty  bullets  of  lead.  Default  of  ap- 
pearance on  parade  was  punished  by  a  fine  of  five 
shillings,  default  in  arms  by  a  fine  of  one  shilling,  the 
total  want  of  arms  by  being  "  bounde  over  to  answer 
it  at  the  next  Corte,"  and  the  failure  of  either  powder 
or  bullets  by  a  fine  of  ten  shillings. 

The  militia  was  embodied  in  what  was  called,  and 
long  known  in  our  history  as  the  Train-Band.  This 
Band  was  composed  properly  one-third  of  Pikemen, 
and  two-thirds  of  Musketeers,  the  tallest  men  being 
always  selected  for  the  former  soldiery,  and  those 
lowest  in  stature  assigned  to  the  latter.  Pikes  were 
deemed  the  more  honorable  arms,  as  being  most  an- 


ITS     FIRST     MILITARY     ORGANIZATION.         65 

cient,  and  because  the  military  standard  was  carried 
at  theii-  head.  Their  bearers,  conspicuous  for  height 
and  carriage  as  well  as  for  dignity  of  position  in  the 
ranks,  would  naturally  excite  envy  but  for  the  quaint 
military  rule  of  the  day,  that  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Pikes 
and  Gentlemen  of  the  Musketeers  should  go  hand  in 
hand  in  love  like  dear  Brothers,  and  neither  of  them 
should  envy  each  other" — a  rule  which  was  persua- 
sively urged  by  the  consideration  that  "in  so  doing 
God  would  give  a  blessing  to  their  undertakings." 
Their  duties,  as  private  soldiers  of  each  class,  were 
carefully  laid  down  in  treatises  of  the  day,  and  have 
in  no  way  been  improved  upon  since.  They  were  to 
be  "  very  active,  not  slothful  or  idle,"  and  to  inform 
themselves,  through  their  officers,  "  of  the  true  use 
and  handling  of  their  arms,  always  keeping  them  neat, 
clean  and  well  fixed."  They  were  to  avoid  all  quar- 
relling, mutinies,  swearing,  cursing  or  lying,  and  be 
content  with  their  wages.  They  were  to  be  "  good 
husbands  in  the  managing  of  then-  means,"  to  keep 
themselves  handsome  in  their  apparel,  to  avoid  drunk- 
enness and  all  manner  of  gaming,  and  were  likewise 
"  truly  to  serve  and  fear  God,  be  obedient  to  all  the 
commands  of  their  superiors,  cheerfully  go  on  upon 
all  duties,  and  to  be  loving,  kind  and  courteous  unto 
each  other."  The  best  of  them  were  always  selected 
for  File-Leaders,  those  who  were  "  able,  willing  and 
ready  to  teach  the  Files." 

The  officers  of  a  Train-Band  were  a  Captain,  Lieu- 
tenant, Ensign,  and  Sergeants.     The  Captain,  accord- 
ing to  the  military  theory  of  the  day,  one  admirably 
applicable  in  all  time,  was  to  know  well  all  martial 
9 


66 


II  A  R  T  r  O  R  D  . 


duties,  to  behave  hiiiLself  courageously  and  wisely,  to 
be  temperate,  to  have  "  a  fatherly  care"  over  his  sol- 
diers, "'  to  teach  them  how  to  fight  upon  all  occasions," 
and,  if  in  battle,  to  lead  them  up  first  against  the  ene- 
my, "  cheerfully  animating  them  to  fall  on."  The 
Lieutenant  was  to  be  a  good,  just  and  able  soldier, 
skilled  in  the  duty  of  a  Captain,  and  frequent  in  exer- 
cising the  Company  "in  all  their  military  motions, 
skirmishings  and  firings  in  the  pan."  The  Ensign 
was  to  be  "a  proper  man,  grave,  valiant  and  discreet, 
and  well  skilled  in  the  postures  of  the  pike,"  as  well 
as  "  in  all  the  lofty  figures  of  the  displaying  of  the 
colors  above  the  head."  He  was  to  know  how  grace- 
fully "  to  vail  his  colors,"  when  a  General,  or  "  any 
such  man  of  worth,"  should  pass  by,  and  ^vas,  in  con- 
test, "  to  stick  by  his  colors,  and  not  to  stir  from  them 
at  such  a  time,  although  he  should  hazard  his  last 
drop  of  blood,  or  make  them  his  winding-sheet."  The 
Sergeants,  usually  from  two  to  four  in  number  accord- 
ing to  the  size  of  the  Company,  were  to  know  how  to 
teach  all  "  to  handle  their  arms  in  a  handsome  and 
serviceable  way,"  to  be  "  helpful  to  their  Captain  or 
other  superior  officer,"  to  provide  the  Company  with 
ammunition,  matches  and  other  materials,  and  in  time 
of  skirmishing  to  see  that  the  Musketeers  presented 
"  all  even  abrest,  with  their  matches  all  cockt,  giving 
fire  all  together  in  good  order,  and  falling  off"  and  ral- 
lying again  in  the  rear  of  their  own  Divisions."  Be- 
sides the  functionaries  now  mentioned,  each  Train- 
Band  had  its  Clerk,  and  Drummers — no  fifers  at  first. 
The  former  was  to  keep  the  Muster-roll  and  the  Pay- 
roll— he    was    to    be    "  very   just    and   honest."     The 


ITS     FIRST     MILITARY     ORGANIZATION. 


67 


Drummers,  at  least  two  in  number,  usually  three  or 
four,  were  to  be  skilled  in  beating  the  several  Points 
of  War — named  the  first  a  Call.,  the  second  a  Troop, 
the  third  a  March,  the  fourth  a  Preparative,  the  fifth  a 
Baitle  or  Charg'e,  the  sixth  a  Retreat,  besides  the  Re- 
veille and  the  Tattoo.  In  theory  also,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  that  they  should  be  "  good  Linguists,  in  re- 
spect that  sometimes  they  might  be  sent  into  an  ene- 
my's camp  for  the  ransoming  of  prisoners." 

Such  in  theory  was  the  constitution  of  a  Train- 
Band.  It  was  that  of  the  first  military  company  of 
Hartford,  as  well  as  of  the  first  military  companies  in 
all  the  early  towns  of  our  State.  Let  us  see  now 
how  it  was  equipped. 

With  muskets  and  pikes  chiefly,  as  the  terms  ap- 
plied to  the  two  kinds  of  soldiers  comprising  the  Band 
imply.  They  had  no  ordnance  at  first — this  came  at 
a  later  period.  The  muskets  were  of  the  old  match- 
lock variety,  with  Bandoleers*  and  Rests.f  A  match, 
usually  made  of  tow  slightly  twisted  in  three  strands, 
and  a  scouring  stick,  were  of  course  indispensable  to 
the    Musketeers.      The    Pikemen   usually   bore    half- 


^Bamhleers  were  wooden  cases  answering  to  our  modern  cartridge-boxes, 
and  were  covered  with  leatlier.  They  were  made  to  contain  each  a  charge  of 
powder,  or  of  powder  and  hall,  and  were  worn  by  each  Musketeer,  usually 
twelve  in  number,  suspended  on  a  shoulder  belt  or  collar. 

fThe  Rest  was  a  stick,  small  like  a  cane,  and  forked  at  one  end  for  the 
musket  to  rest  m  when  aim  was  taken,  with  a  string  attached  to  it  so  that  it 
could  be  tied  to  the  wiist.  It  was  used  as  a  cane  also,  to  aid  in  marching. 
The  customary  orders,  "join  your  Rest  to  the  outside  of  your  musket — pre- 
sent upon  your  Rest — take  your  musket  off  the  Rest — take  j'our  Rest  into 
your  right  hand,  clearing  the  string  from  your  left  wrist — lay  down  your 
Rest" — these  orders  plainly  indicate  the  use  of  the  Rest. 


68  HARTFORD.  • 

pikes,  which  were  "  ten  foote  in  length  at  least  in  the 
wood,"  and  were  pointed  with  spears.     In  addition  to 
their  pikes,  they  wore  also  swords  with  belts.     Half- 
pikes,  sometimes   called   Leading-Staffs,  and  swords, 
were  also  generally  carried  by  officers.     In  addition  to 
the  arms  now  stated,  the  Train-Band  soldiers  of  Hart- 
ford carried  also  at  times,  in  any  emergency  of  war, 
pistols  and  daggers.     They  wore  corslets,  and  coats 
basted  with  cotton-wool,  made  proof  against  Indian 
arrows.     As  to  their  apparel  otherwise  we  can  judge 
but  little  about  it,  save  that  if  consonant  with  the  mil- 
itary requisition  of  the  period,  it  must  have  been  "  neat 
and  handsome"  as  circumstances  would  allow.     We 
have  no  doubt  that  they  appeared  on  parade  in  their 
best  cloth  and  cotton   suits  of  the  day,  in  coats  and 
jackets,  and  breeches  of  shag-cotton  and  coarse  linen, 
of  linsey-woolsey,  and    kersey  and  serge,  in    hats  or 
caps  their  best,  but  sometimes  of  skin,  and  consorting 
with  doublets  made  from    the  leather  of  bucks  and 
calves.     Neither  the  old  hats,  or  old-colored  hats,  or 
short    coats    made  of   dornic,    or    old    grey    breeches, 
which  we  see  sometimes  noticed  in  then-  old  invento- 
ries, nor  the  coats  they  sometimes  wore,  made  from 
the  raccoon,  the  cat,  the  fox  and  the  shaggy  bear,  fig- 
ured  often,   we   think,    on    parade — because   it   was 
deemed  the  duty  of  an  ingenious  soldier  "  not  to  come 
slovenly  habited  when  he  should  march  forth  with  his 
Captain,"  but  then  particularly  to  use  apparel  "  for 
his  better  grace  and  becoming." 

As  to  their  military  exercises,  certainly  here  there 
was  very  great  variety — and  on  overlooking  the  treat- 
ises of  the  day,  those  particularly  which  in  the  old 


ITS  FIRST     MILITARY     ORGANIZATION.         69 

country,  as  at  the  Artillery  and  Military  Gardens  of 
London,  and  the  private  meetings  of  Townsditch  and 
Cripplegate,  were  deemed  of  the  highest  authority  in 
the  art-military,  and  which  furnished  to  the  New^  as 
well  as  the  Old  World  its  first  and  recognized  lessons 
on  the  management  of  Train-Bands,  we  are  satisfied 
that  in  the  diversity  and  complexity  of  the  combina- 
tions they  describe,  no  modern  treatises  can  surpass 
them.  Facings,  doublings,  the  inversion  and  conver- 
sion of  ranks  and  files,  marches  and  countermarches, 
"\yheelings,  firings,  the  figures  of  battle  with  their  re- 
ducements,  all  these  with  their  endless  subdivisions, 
with  their  countless  openings  and  closings  of  ranks 
and  files,  and  particularities  of  distance  and  order, 
and  dignities  of  place,  and  phrases  of  command,  had 
their  application  to  single  Train-Bands  as  well  as  to 
regiments  and  armies.  They  were  varied,  and  minute, 
and  exact  enough  to  challenge  the  application  and 
test  the  skill  of  the  most  ardent  and  studious  of  sol- 
diers. And  we  wonder  not,  in  view  of  their  intricacy 
and  extent,  that  Captain  Mason  was  specially  charged 
by  order  of  the  General  Court,  a  little  while  subse- 
quently to  the  period  upon  which  we  dwell,  to  train 
the  '  unskilful'  of  Hartford,  as  well  as  of  Windsor 
and  Wethersfield,  oftener  than  once  a  month,  if  ne- 
cessary. 

Yet  the  simple  postures  and  charges  of  the  pike 
were  not  very  numerous  or  difificult.  To  raise  them, 
to  open  them  to  closest  order  and  to  order,  to  ad- 
vance, shoulder,  port,  comport,  cheeke  and  trail  them, 
and  to  charge  to  the  front,  right,  left  and  rear — these 
were  the  ordinary  commands  for  their  management. 


70  HARTFORD. 

The  postures  of  the  musket  and  its  apjiendages  were 
more  numerous.  To  order,  rest,  poise  and  shoulder 
this  arm,  to  balance  it  and  the  Rest  on  the  right  side 
with  the  barrel  upwards,  and  on  the  left  side  with  the 
barrel  downwards,  trailing  the  Rest,  to  recover  it  and 
perform  the  sentinel-posture,  and  from  this  to  perform 
the  funeral-posture,  to  open,  clear,  prime  and  shut  the 
pan,  to  find  and  open  the  charge,  to  charge,  to  draw, 
cock  and  fit  the  match,  to  present  upon  the  Rest,  and 
give  fire  breast-high — ^these  were  the  familiar  com- 
mands in  the  management  of  the  musket.  The  con- 
formities of  postures  between  the  muskets  and  the 
pikes  were  also  matters  of  careful  attention  in  a  Train- 
Band — as  the  musket  shouldered  to  the  pike  shoul- 
dered, the  former  porting  to  the  latter  porting,  the 
musket  poised  to  the  pike  advanced,  the  former  re- 
versed to  the  latter  trailing,  the  former  rested  to  the 
latter  cheeked,  and  the  former  presented  to  the  latter 
charged. 

The  officers  and  soldiers  then  of  the  first  military- 
company  in  Hartford,  it  is  obvious,  had  enough  to  do 
in  the  matter  of  discipline.  We  should  like  to  see 
them  just  now,  in  their  garb  and  arms  of  more  than 
two  centuries  ago,  drawn  up  in  front  of  our  State 
House,  or  marching  through  Main  Street.  We  think 
we  can — and  enable  our  Readers  to  see  them  too — 
through  the  politeness  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  Richard 
Elton,  a  decidedly  venerable  gentleman,  who  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  years  ago  wrote  "  the  compleat 
Body  of  the  Art- Military,"  and  who,  after  having  be- 
queathed the  work  for  a  while  to  the  possession  of 
Benjamin  Webb,  and  of  John  Adams  the  grandfather 


ITS    FIRST    MILITARY     ORGANIZATION.         71 

of  the  second  President  of  the  United  States,*  has 
kindly  loaned  it  to  ns  by  the  hands  of  E.  Smith,  Esq., 
of  this  city.  In  the  representation  we  propose,  we 
shall  employ  types  for  soldiers,  p  standing  for  Pike- 
men,  m  for  Musketeers,  C  for  Captain,  L.  for  Lieuten- 
ant, E  for  Ensign,  S  for  Sergeant,  wdth  numerals  to 
mark  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth,  and  D  for 
Drummers.  We  will  first  draw  the  Train-Band  up  in 
a  favorite  Strmd.  The  Captain  has  ordered  the  Pike- 
men  to  the  right,  the  left  half-ranks  of  Musketeers  to 
face  to  the  left,  and  then  to  march  and  interchange 
ground,  facing  afterwards  to  their  leaders,  and  closing 
files  inward  to  order.  They  will  then  appear  as  un- 
derneath, the  Pikemen  flanked  by  the  Musketeers. 
Look  at  them  I 


C 

SI 

E 

4S 

minmmmmmmDDppppppppDDmmmmmmmm 

m  m  m  m  m  m  m  m 

pppppppp 

m  m  m  m  m  m  m  m 

mmmmmmmm 

pppppppp 

mmmmmmmm 

mmmmmmmm 

pppppppp 

mmmmmmmm 

mmmmmmmm 

pppppppp 

mmmmmmmm 

mmmmmmmm 

PPPPPPPP 

mmmmmmmm 

S3 

L 

2S 

We  will  next  marshal  them,  as  they  are  tired  of 
standing  and  love  exercise,  in  their  favorite  Long- 
March.     See  them,  through  our  typifyers,  with  their 

*  So  we  are  informed.  The  following  handwriting  appears  on  a  blank  leaf 
in  the  end  of  the  volume  to  which  reference  is  made.  "John  Adams'  Book. 
Boston,  March  the  30.  1696.  bought  and  paid  to  brother  Benjamin  Webb  for 
the  other  half  of  this  Book  and  the  whole  is  now  mine,    p  me  John  Adams." 


72 


HARTFORD, 


pikes  and  muskets  shouldered,  their  colors  flying  and 
drums  beating,  with  bold  port  and  martial  frown,  and 

"Free  bora  thoughts  which  league  the  soldier  with  the  laws," 


moving  with 
C 
mmmm 

mmmm 
D 

mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 

4S 
mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 
mmmm 

E 

PPPP 
p  p  p  p 

D 

PPPP 
PPPP 
PPPP 
PPPP 

2S 


measured  tread  along  Main  Street! 

Don't  they  look  well?  How 
many  of  your  grandfathers,  gen- 
erations back.  Reader,  can  you 
discern  among  them  ?  Don't  you 
wish  we  had  their  portraits  for 
the  above  representation,  instead 
of  these  types  that  make  them 
look  so  all  alike  ?  The  first 
Train-Band  of  Hartford  though, 
we  think  you  will  acknowledge, 
might  have  presented  a  handsome 
appearance — and  not  only  hand- 
some but  also  formidable !  The 
Pequots  found  it  so  in  about  t^vo 
years  after  it  was  formed !  It  ex- 
terminated the  foe  I  And  the 
Narragansets  found  it  so — and 
all  enemies  to  the  infant  Com- 
monwealth of  Connecticut  would 
have  found  it  so!  Our  present 
Governor,  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished soldiers  in  the  State, 
could  he  have  led  it  in  Mexico, 
would  have  headed  it,  we  believe, 
in  pride,  even  though  composed, 
as  it  undoubtedly  was,  of  ram- 
pant Whigs,  and  would  not  have 


ITS    FIRST    MILITARY     ORGANIZATION. 


73 


1  S  envied  the  glory  of  even  its  hum- 

blest private,  had  the  hand  of  the 
latter,  instead  of  his  Excellency's 
own  brave  arm,  struck  down  the 
hostile  banner  of  Chepviltepec  ! 
Thanks  to  the  Settlers  of  Hart- 
ford that  they  looked  at  once  and 
wisely  to  a  system  for  defence — 
that  they  constituted  the  citizen- 
soldier,  honored  him  with  respect, 
endeared  him  by  affection,  and 
threw  over  his  art  the  chastening, 
restraining,  and  encouraging  influ- 
ences of  religion  and  law !  Con- 
necticut has  deep  reason,  in  view 
of  their  efforts  and  those  of  sister 
towns,  in  forming  and  disciplining  Train-Bands,  to  be 
grateful.  Their  influence  has  been  felt,  oh  in  how 
many  desperate  yet  triumphant  struggles  for  liberty ! 
We  IV ere  royal  subjects.  We  are,  thanks  to  the 
Train-Band  power,  free  I 

SCJEVA. 


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10 


§artf0rlr. 


ITS  FIRST  BURYING-GEOUND. 

Xo.  8.  t 

"Dull  grave,  thou  spoilst  the  dance  of  youthful  blood,"  &c. 

Young — ichen  melancholy. 

"  Why  start  at  Death ?     Where  is  he?     Death  arrived 
Is  past;  not  come,  or  gone,  he's  never  here." 

Young — more  cheerful. 

Room  for  the  dead!  So  from  time  immemorial 
saith  both  Pagan  and  Christian  I  How  else  be  sm:e 
of  your  body  when  the  soul,  after  its  transmigrations 
of  three  thousand  years,  shall  return  to  occupy  again 
its  tenement  of  clay,  exclaimed  the  old  Egyptian. 
How  else,  said  the  Greek  and  the  Roman,  reach  the 
Elysian  Fields — the  body  unburied,  your  soul  must 
wait  for  its  blessedness  one  hundred  years.  How 
else,  reasons  the  savage,  will  you  feed  and  clothe  the 
disembodied  spirit  in  the  other  world?  You  must 
leave  implements  of  the  chase  and  dishes  of  food  by 
the  body  in  some  shallow  tabernacle  of  earth,  and 
hang  some  of  its  garments  to  sway  in  the  wind  upon 
some  neighboring  tree.  How  else,  reasoned  the  an- 
cient Hebrew,  guard  your  deceased  friend  from  the 
approach  of  the  Evil  One  ?     In  the  earth,  within  his 


76  HARTFORD. 

coffin,  you  must  with  his  bent  thumb  figure  the  name 
of  God,  that  you  may  say  to  him  in  confidence,  as 
you  turn  his  face  towards  heaven,  "  Go  in  peace  I" 
How  else,  says  the  unsuperstitious  Christian,  guard 
against  the  corruptions  of  clay,  impress  the  solemn 
lesson  of  man's  mortality,  and  affectionately  memo- 
rialize the  departed  ?  "  Earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes, 
dust  to  dust" — and 

"  At  the  piping  of  all  hands, 

AVhen  the  judgment  signal's  spread — 

"When  the  islands  and  the  lands, 

And  the  seas  give  up  their  dead, 
And  the  south  and  the  north  shall  come ; 

"When  the  sinner  is  betrayed, 

And  the  just  man  is  afraid. 

Then  Heaven  be  the  aid 

Of  the  dead!"* 

Such,  the  Christian,  were  the  solemn  sentiments  of 
the  Hartford  Settlers  upon  death  and  burial.  And 
they  acted  upon  them  without  parade — with  a  sober 
simplicity  which  had  at  least  this  merit,  that  it  did 
not  mock  the  grave.  To  wash  the  body,  to  dress  it 
in  a  shroud,!  to  place  it  in  a  plain  coffin — to  assem- 

*Brainard — slightly  varied  in  the  last  two  lines. 

fWe  should  prefer  to  see  the  dead  dressed  in  their  coffins  as  in  their  lives, 
handsomely  and  characteristically.  There  is  enough  awful  about  death  with- 
out the  addition  of  that  ugly,  horrifying  and  in  fact  unmeaning  shroud — 
enough  painfully  attractive  both  to  memoiy  and  to  hope  to  require  the  rehef 
of  pleasant  associations — and  what  one  more  pleasant  than  that  which  arises 
from  dressing  the  dead  in  their  wonted  attire,  made  specially  neat  and  grace 
ful  for  their  last  appearance — so  that  they  may  look  as  if  they  were  not  go- 
.  ing  to  leave  us — instead  of  dressing  them  as  we  do  now,  with  nothing  on  hard- 
ly but  their  skins — almost  like  the  beasts  that  perish,  that  we  dig  a  careless 
hole  for  and  toss  in.  Pope,  in  our  judgment,  though  he  treats  the  subject  a 
little  lightly,  makes  Narcissa  in  her  last  moments  give  to  her  maid  an  excel- 


ITS    FIRST     B  U  R  Y  I  X  G  -  G  R  O  U  N  D.  77 

ble,  to  pray  and  sing  a  mournful  tune — to  bear  to  the 
grave,  sometimes  to  the  House  of  God  first  for  servi- 
ces and  then  to  the  grave,  on  some  dark  litter — the 
Train-Band  often  escorting  if  the  deceased  was  a 
soldier,  with  black  feathers  or  ribbons  on  their  hats, 
and  their  colors  stripped  from  the  staff  and  tied  about 
the  waist  of  their  standard-bearer,  and  their  drums 
covered  with  black  bays — to  utter  a  little  epitome 
over  the  grave — to  pray  and  sing  again — to  lower  the 

lent  direction,  be  it  or  not,  as  the  poet  designs  it  to  be,  tlie  expression  of  a 
ruling  passion  strong  in  death. 

"Odious!  in  woolen  I  f  would  a  saint  provoke, 
(Were  the  last  words  that  poor  Narcissa  spoke.) 
No,  let  a  charming  chintz  and  Brussels  lace 
Wrap  my  cold  limbs,  and  shade  mj'  lifeless  face ! 
One  would  not.  siire^  be  frightful  when  one's  dead — 
And,  Betty,  give  this  cheek  a  little  red." 

We  have  no  hope,  however,  of  changing  our  burial  practice,  nor  shall  we 
assume  in  regard  to  it  the  task  of  a  Eefomier.  We  trust,  for  one  however, 
to  be  buried  in  no  unmanly,  effeminating  night-gown,  but  in  a  full  citizen's 
dress !     And  so  we  put  this  our  wish  on  record,  as  a  guide  to  our  Undertaker. 

[What  high  sanction  has  been  given  to  Scteva's  suggestion  in  the  above 
note  by  the  manner  in  which,  lately,  the  remains  of  the  immortal  Webster 
were  coffined !  A  letter  in  the  New  York  Times,  written  from  Marshfield  by 
one  who  was  present  at  the  funeral  of  the  illustrious  statesman,  says :  "  The 
corpse  is  arrayed  in  such  habiliments  as  his  compeers  of  the  Senate  have  often 
seen  him  in,  when  on  a  bright  Summer  morning  he  sought  the  Senate  Hall, 
to  pour  the  words  of  wisdom  and  the  light  of  truth  upon  some  topic  of  sur- 
passing public  interest.  A  blue  coat,  with  plain  gilt  buttons,  vest  and  pants 
of  spotless  white,  are  substituted  for  the  shroud.  A  white  neckcloth  encir- 
cles the  throat,  over  which  is  turned  the  shirt  collar.  The  feet  are  encased  in 
silken  hose  and  shoes  of  patent  leather.  The  hair  of  the  deceased  is  parted 
and  disposed  as  in  life;  and  his  white-gloved  hands  are  crossed  upon  his 
breast.  The  lips  are  slightly  parted,  just  as  when  about  to  speak.  How  fit- 
ting is  the  appearance  of  these  remains !  They  seem,  indeed,  to  sleep  but  for 
an  hour;  and  their  habiliments,  though  prepared  for  the  grave,  still  suggest 
life,  and  feed  the  lingering  imagination  which  would  reanimate  the  helpless 
clay."    Ed.] 


78 


HARTFORD. 


coffin — to  fire,  if  over  a  soldier,  three  volleys — to  cov- 
er the  coffin,  mound  it,  and  put  the  event,  tlirough 
their  ministers,  to  spiritual  use  the  next  Sunday  or 
Lecture  Day — such  were  their  simple  customs  and 
rites.  "What  would  they  have  thought  of  many  of 
the  funeral  affectations  of  the  present  day — of  that 
French  nobleman  Brumoi  for  instance,  who  on  the 
death  of  his  mother,  put  his  park  into  mourning, 
craped  his  deer,  put  blackfish  in  his  ponds,  and  car- 
ried several  ban'els  of  black  ink  from  Paris  to  supply 
his  jets  d'eaux  I  They  would  have  told  him,  we 
think,  that  all  his  contrived  blackness  was  but  the 
type  of  that  real  one  which  would  be  sure  to  envel- 
ope himself  and  his  folly  in  the  world  hereafter.  A 
plain-spoken  people  were  these  Settlers  I  In  funeral 
rites  far  removed  too  from  every  superstition,  as  w^eU 
as  every  affectation !  For  them  no  heathen  Styx ! 
A  godly  people  that  they  were,  we  do  not  suppose  the 
course  of  their  departed  souls  often  lay  that  way. 
Charon  surely  was  no  F'erryman  for  an  enlightened 
Puritan — nor  Pope  Adi-ian  the  Eighth  either  I  But 
with  Christ  for  a  guide,  his  simple  doctrines  for  a 
panoply,  and  immortal  hope  to  wing  their  flight,  their 
souls,  after  they  had  "  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil," 
started  through  pure,  empyrean  air,  we  think,  for  that 
world 

"  uiitravelled  by  the  sun, 
Where  Tune's  fur  wanderhig  tide  has  never  run" — 

leaving  the  bodies  they  had  volatilized  on  earth  to  be 
immured  in  white  oak  or  pine  boxes,  roofed  or  plain 
at  the  top,  as  funereal  fancy  dictated,  and  to  be  depos- 


ITS    FIRST    BURYING-GROUND. 


79 


ited  in  the  manner  we  have  described,  in  solemn 
keeping,  at  the  corner  of  present  Market  Street  and 
State  House  Square. 

Yes,  Reader,  there  was  the  site  of  the  first  Burying- 
Ground  of  Hartford — an  area  close  by  the  first  Meet- 
ing-House, and  running  north  from  the  Square  to- 
wards the  present  City  Hall,  and  west  from  present 
Market  Street  up,  a  little  distance,  the  hill.  It  was 
then  much  more  elevated  than  now — ten  to  twelve 
feet.  It  has  been  cut  down  since,  low  enough  to  car- 
ry away  all  the  dust  both  of  the  bodies  and  coffins  of 
those  who  slept  in  its  cold  embrace.  Its  monuments, 
many  of  them,  as  they  stood  upon  the  site,  were  well 
remembered  and  frequently  spoken  of  to  his  sons  by 
the  father  of  Messrs  J.  B.  and  C.  Hosmer  of  this  city, 
and  also  by  the  late  Samuel  Olcott.  The  latter  said 
that  many  of  the  stones  composing  them  were  used 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  some  of  the  oldest  build- 
ings fronting  on  the  Square,  on  its  north  side. 

But  they  are  gone  to  our  view — and  the  Settlers 
have  transmitted  to  us  none  of  their  mummied  bodies 
'loaded  with  biography.'  We  have  not  even  the 
name  of  a  solitary  one  of  those  who  were  buried 
there.  Their  dust,  distinguished  or  undistinguished 
in  its  day,  is  undistinguishable  now.  It  is  plain  how- 
ever, from  the  customs  and  economy  of  the  time,  that 
those  who  first  died  in  Hartford,  did  not  retire  to  any 
resting-places  that  were  made  splendid  with  gravelled 
walks,  and  terraces  and  flowery  banks,  and  costly 
trees  and  shrubs,  like  those  of  Mount  Auburn,  Green- 
wood, and  our  own  North  Cemetery — least  of  all  to 
any  magnificent  villas  like  those  of  P^re  la   Chaise. 


80  HARTFORD. 

They  were  not  laid  up  for  eternity  on  shelves  either 
of  marble  or  of  stone.  No  heaps  of  granite  or  of 
bronze,  of  lime  or  freestone,  pedantic  with  inscriptions 
and  chiselled  with  the  exquisiteness  of  art — no  pomp- 
ous urns,  or  pyramids,  or  statues — no  Winged  Angels 
or  Victories,  wi'ought  as  if  to  make  one  think  that 
"  Hymen  and  Cupid,  and  not  Death,  walked  through 
the  Yard" — figured  in  Hartford's  primitive  Burying- 
Ground.  But  a  few  simple,  upright  stones,  with 
plain  inscriptions,  and  never  any  double  Christian 
names — this  would  have  been  deemed  a  great  innova- 
tion— possibly  one  or  two  somewhat  massive  slabs 
supported  by  five  pillars  on  a  foundation  of  stone, 
such  as  are  seen  no\v  in  old  Grounds — these  were  the 
simple  memorials  erected  over  the  graves  of  our  first 
Settlers. 

The  turf  ^vas  gi'een  above  these  graves.  It  may 
also  have  been  smooth,  for  the  Town,  judging  from 
its  subsequent  practice  in  this  respect,  allowed  horses 
and  calves  to  feed  upon  its  herbage.  Yet  there  was  a 
neat  and  '  sufficient'  fence  around,  with  pales  and 
post  heads  '  handsomely  shaped,'  both  for  ornament, 
and  to  keep  out  the  swine.  Affection  may  have  dec- 
orated some  of  the  mounds,  and  doubtless  did,  with 
little  shelters  of  shrubbery,  ^vith  fern  and  woodbine 
and  jessamine — there  was  plenty  of  these  plants  in 
the  woods  around.  It  may  have  strewn  chaplets,  and 
wreaths  of  flowers,  over  youth  and  innocence  and 
beauty.  It  may  have  planted  the  cypress,  the  willow 
and  the  hemlock.  But  adornment  was  all  simple, 
save  that  which  nature  perhaps  furnished  in  some  of 


ITS    FIRST    BURYING-GROUND.  81 

the  stately  trees  of  the  time,  some  gnarled  oak,  or 
tall  whitewood,  or  majestic  pines,  through  which  the 
raven  might  caw  in  his  plumage  of  crape,  and  the 
breezes  might  sigh,  or  thunder  storms  roll  their  bass, 
or  the  clouds  weep  and  the  spheres  play  their  sweet- 
est harmony,  above  the  sheeted  dead. 

ScJEVA. 


11 


ITS  NAME.     A  COAT  OF  ARMS. 

No.  9. 

"  What's  in  a  name  ?" 

Shcikspeare. 

"  Good  name dear  my  lord, 

Is  the  unmediate  jewel." 

Shalspeare,  in  reply. 

"Every  man  of  the  cHldren  of  Israel  shall  pitch  by  his  own  standard,  with 
the  ensign  of  their  father' s  house;  far  otf  about  the  tabernacle  of  the  congre- 
gation shall  they  pitch." 

]\^umhcrs,  chap.  ii.  v.  2. 

Whitsunday  has  arrived — it  is  time  to  baptize  the 
town !  We  have  kept  it  for  some  time  in  swaddling 
clothes,  manly  infant  though  it  was.  We  have  con- 
tinued it  awhile  as  a  catechumen.  This  was  proper. 
The  settlement  should  have  had  time  to  open  its  eyes, 
to  stretch  its  limbs,  to  grow  a  little,  and  give  signs  of 
civil  regeneration  and  municipal  grace,  ere  it  could  be 
taken  to  the  baptistry  of  the  General  Court,  and 
formally  receive  the  rite  of  lay-baptism.  In  its  mere 
babyhood,  its  parents  called  it  from  its  transitory 
mother  in  Massachusetts — '■'•Newtown" — but  they  soon 
grew    tired  of  the    name  of  the    Bay   State  widow, 


84  HARTFORD.       ITS    NAME. 

and  February  21st,  1636,  Mr.  Ludlowe,  ]VIr.  Steele, 
Mr.  Swaine,  Mr.  Phelps,  and  Mi-.  Westwood,  laid 
their  legislative  hands  upon  it,  and  called  it  '■'•Harte- 
fordy  This  was  the  name  of  the  town  in  England 
in  which  Samuel  Stone  Avas  born,  and  seems  to  have 
been  adopted  in  commemoration  of  the  fact.  Why 
Chelmsford,  the  birthplace  of  Mr.  Hooker,  was  not 
selected,  or  the  name  of  some  other  town  in  which 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Settlers  were 
born,  is  nowhere  apparent.  Probably  Mr.  Stone  and 
his  friends  were  most  active  in  the  baptism. 

At  any  event  a  good  and  an  honorable  name  was  se- 
lected. Hartford  in  England,  now  called  Hertford, 
Avas  the  leading  town  of  a  shire  called  after  itself,  as 
is  our  own  town  now.  It  lies  on  the  river  Lea,  rela- 
tively as  Hartford  here  on  the  river  Connecticut,  and  is 
twenty-one  miles  north  of  London.  It  is  a  town  very 
considerable  for  its  antiquity.  The  East-Saxon  kings 
often  kept  their  courts  there.  Its  burgesses  were  of 
note  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror.  A  re- 
markable and  expensive  cell  for  the  monks  of  St. 
Albans  figured  early  among  its  curiosities.  King 
Edward  the  elder  erected  a  castle*  there,  just  in  the 
forks  of  the  Y-shaped  town,  and  the  famous-  John  of 
Gaunt,  afterwards  Duke  of  Richmond,  received  it 
subsequently  from  the  hands  of  Edward  the  Third, 
"  together  with    the   Town  and  Honour  of  Hartford, 


*A  picture  of  this  castle,  as  it  appeared  in  1772,  with  angular  towers,  one 
of  which  supi)orts  the  gable  of  a  dwelling-house  built  on  the  wall,  may  be 
seen  in  volume  second  of  Grose's  Antiquities  of  England  and  Wales. 


ACOATOFARMS.  85 

that  there  he  might  keep  a  house  suitable  to  his  qual- 
ity, and  have  a  decent  habitation."* 

But  the  feature  which  interests  us  now  most,  and 
we  trust  it  will  our  Readers,  is  an  heraldic  one.  Our 
own  Hartford  must  have  its  Coat  of  Arms  I  It  is  en- 
titled to  one.  Not  to  the  arms  of  Dominion — ^we 
want  no  lions-rampant  or  fleurs-de-lis  to  mark  any 
monarchical  sway.  Nor  to  the  arms  of  Pretension — 
we  claim  no  kingdom  but  our  own.  Nor  to  the  arms 
of  Patronage — we  are  not,  in  the  sense  of  the  old 
world,  either  governors  of  provinces,  or  lords  of  man- 
ors, or  disposers  of  benefices.  Nor  to  the  arms  of 
Family,  Alliance,  Succession  or  Concession — ^we  are 
distinguished  by  no  aristocratic  superiorities,  jurisdic- 
tion, or  augmentations  of  honor.  But  we  are  entitled 
to  the  arms  of  Community ;  to  those,  in  other  words, 
which,  while  they  may  serve  to  arouse  attractive  asso- 
ciations, commemorate  pleasant  facts  of  history,  and 
inspire  warming  sentiments,  yet  specially  serve,  like  a 
seal,  to  distinguish  us  as  a  body  corporate  or  town.f 

*Buckingham's  New  London  Universal  Gazetteer,  a  comparatively  recent 
work,  contains  the  following  notice  of  Hertford.  "A  town,  capital  of  the 
county,  with  a  market  on  Saturday,  on  the  Lea,  which  is  here  navigable  for 
barges.  It  contains  two  parish  churches,  a  neat  sessions  house,  a  town  hall, 
a  jail  and  penitentiarj'  house,  and  a  market  house.  2i  miles  on  the  London 
road  stands  the  E.  India  College,  founded  to  co-operate  with  the  College  at 
Calcutta  in  training  young  men  for  the  company's  service.  It  has  also  a 
school  belonging  to  Christ  Church  Hospital,  London,  a  gi-ammar  school,  2 
meeting-houses  for  dissenters  and  1  for  Quakers.  It  is  governed  by  a  mayor, 
high-steward,  recorder,  alderaien,  &c.,  and  sends  2  members  to  parliament. 
21  m.  N  of  London.     Pop.  4,265." 

t  We  have  already  a  city  seal.  It  was  ordered  and  accepted  by  the  city 
early  as  1785.  Col.  Samuel  Wyllys  and  John  Trumbull,  Esq.,  were  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  form  and  report  it.     They  reported  as  follows : 

"  That  the  device  for  the  Seal  of  the  City  of  Hartford,  be  as  follows — Con- 


86  HARTFORD.       ITS    NAME. 

Just  prepare  yourself  then,  Reader,  for  what  we  shall 
have  to  say  on  this  point,  by  perusing  carefully  the 
three  following  paragraphs. 

Camden,  in  his  Brittania,  p.  294,  speaking  of  Hart- 
ford says,  that  "  some  Avill  have  the  name  to  signifie 
the  Red  Ford,  others  the  Ford  of  Harts.''''  The  first 
signification  is  by  Camden's  Commentator,  and  by 
other  writers,  repudiated.  The  second  is  the  true  one. 
We  found  the  name  in  its  original  Saxon  dress,  and 
caused  it  to  be  engraved  that  all  might  see  it  as  it 
looked  when  it  was  born.  Here  it  is,  and  stout  and 
fair  to  the  eye  too  it  appears  I     Behold  it — 


Heojitpojibi 


In  the  dress  of  our  day  the  first  two  syllables  form 
Heort,  a  word  which  signifies  according  to  Bailey,  "  a 
stag  five  years  old."  The  third  syllable  is  ford,  and 
signifies,  as  is  familiar,  a  place  in  a  river  or  other  wa- 
ter, where  it  may  be  passed  by  man  or  beast  on  foot, 
or  by  wading.  Etymologically,  then,  Hartford  clearly 
means  the  Ford  of  Harts  ! 

necticut  River,  represented  by  the  figui-e  of  an  old  man,  crowned  with  rash- 
es, seated  against  a  Rock,  holding  an  Urn,  with  a  Stream  flowing  from  it — at 
his  feet  a  net  and  fish  peculiar  to  the  River  lying  by  it,  with  barrels  and  bales. 
Over  his  head  an  Oak  growing  out  of  a  cleft  in  the  Rock.  Round  the  whole 
these  words — Sigillum  Civitatis  Hartfordiensis." 

This  device  is  but  a  modified  repetition  of  old  Father  Thames.  It  is  that 
old  man  crowned  with  rushes,  &c.,  who  is  the  eternal  type  of  all  rivers,  and 
may  as  well  be  applied  to  every  city  on  a  river  as  to  the  city  of  Hartford- 
The  fish  look  like  any  fish — the  nets  like  all  nets.  There  is  nothing  distinct- 
ive about  the  device — nothing  localising. 

[The  seal  spoken  of  above  was  soon  changed  for  another  designed  by 
Scasva,  as  will  be  noticed  farther  on.     Ed.] 


A    C  O  A  T    O  F    A  R  .M  S  .  87 

Again.  The  Commentator  on  Camden,  in  tlie 
Brittania,  p.  304,  speaks  of  the  name  Hartford  as  "  no 
doubt  took  from  a  Hart,  with  which  one  can  easily 
imagine  such  a  woody  County  [as  Hartfordshire]  to 
have  formerly  abounded — and  the  arms  of  the  town 
which  (if  rightly  represented  by  Spede)  are  a  Hart 
couchant  in  the  icater,  put  it  beyond  dispute." 

Once  more.  The  author  of  England  Illustrated,  an 
elaborate  work  of  high  authority,  published  in  London 
in  1764,  quotes  Dr.  Gibson,  a  celebrated  antiquari- 
an, as  deriving  Hartford  "  from  a  Hart,  this  County, 
[Hartfordshire]  having  formerly  abounded  in  deer,  and 
the  arms  of  the  town,  as  represented  by  Mr.  Speed, 
being  a  Hart  covchant  in  the  ivater.''''  Thomas  Kil- 
chin.  Geographer  and  Engraver  to  his  Royal  Highness 
the  Duke  of  York,  in  a  map,  '  drawn  from  the  best 
authorities,'  which  accompanies  the  work  now  quot- 
ed, spells  both  Hartfordshire  and  Hartford  as  we  spell 
them  now,  that  is  with  an  a  instead  of  an  e  in  the 
first  syllable.  So  also  we  have  seen  them  spelt  on 
other  old  maps. 

We  have  then  the  etymology  of  Hartford.  We 
have  the  armorial  bearing  of  the  old  town  in  England 
from  which  it  is  named.  Hartford  is  in  Connecticut, 
on  the  banks  of  a  river  and  a  riveret,  crossed  in  early 
times  by  thousands  of  deer  that  lapped  their  spark- 
ling waters.  Connecticut  has  its  Coat  of  Arms — 
three  grape  vines  bearing  fruit.  Connecticut  is  one  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  The  conspicuous  em- 
blem of  the  United  States  is  the  Eagle.  Remember- 
ing now  that  armorial  bearings  are  '  honorable  in  pro- 
portion to  their  simplicity,'  we  have  taken  the  simple 


HARTFORD.       ITS    NAME. 


facts  just  stated,  and  thoughtfully,  in  the  main  in  strict 
conformity  with  heraldic  rules,  and  with  the  variation 
of  a  hart  fording — the  better  aspect  in  which  to  pre-, 
sent  him — instead  of  lying'  vpon  a  stream,  have  de- 
signed for  our  fair  Town  the  following  Coat  of  Arms. 

Ar.  An  American  Hart  proper,  fording  a  stream, 
trippant,  in  fess ;  in  a  Landskip,  in  middle  base,  a 
Grape  Vine  bearing  fruit,  naissant  from  a  strip  of 
earth — all  proper.  Crest.  An  American  Eagle  prop- 
er, displayed.     Motto.     Post  nubila  Phoebus. 

Is  this  Arabic  to  you.  Reader  ?  Don't  be  alarmed ! 
We  will  explain  it  all  soon,  so  that  you  shall  compre- 
hend it  perfectly.     But  first  glance  at  the  design !  * 


HJASTrPBD). 


*  W.  H.  Dodd  Esq.,  of  our  city,  with  a  readiness  truly  laudable,  and  from 
the  motive  of  "public  spirit  and  not  of  cash,"  originally  engraved  it  for  us 
on  wood.    All  praise  to  his  courtesy,  and  to  his  skill ! 


ACOATOFARMS.  89 

Glance  again  if  you  please,  and  with  a  friendly 
eye — for  like  Sterne,  we  "  would  almost  go  fifty  miles 
on  foot  to  kiss  the  hand  of  that  man  [not  to  say 
woman],  whose  generous  heart  will  give  up  the  reins 
of  his  imagination  into  his  author's  hands — be  pleased 
he  knows  not  why,  and  cares  not  ^\^herefore."  When 
you  shall  have  taken  the  edge  off  from  your  curiosity, 
then  read  what  we  have  to  say  farther ! 


The  Escutcheon  or  Shield  of  a  Coat  of  Arms,  which 
in  its  form  may  differ  in  all  countries  according  to  the 
fancy  or  pleasure  of  the  bearer,  is  in  our  Design,  it 
will  be  perceived,  nearly  heart-shaped.  Its  field,  or  in 
other  ^vords  its  surface,  which  may  be  of  different  col- 
ors, is  here  ichite.  This  color  is  denoted  in  our  heral- 
dic description  by  the  syllable  Ar.,  a  contraction  for 
Arg-ent,  the  common  French  word  for  silver,  of  which 
metal  all  white  fields  are  supposed  to  consist.  The 
adjective  proper  in  heraldry  is  applied  to  animals,  veg- 
etables, the  celestial  bodies,  &c.,  when  they  are  paint- 
ed of  their  natural  color.  It  is  applied  in  the  above 
technical  description  three  times,  and  denotes  that  the 
bearing's  or  charges  on  the  field,  in  other  words  the  de- 
vices upon  it,  and  the  crest,  if  painted,  should  appear 
in  their  own  real  and  proper  hues.  Trippant  is  a  term 
used  to  express  a  buck,  hart,  antelope,  hind,  &c.,  with 
his  right  fore-foot  lifted  up,  and  the  other  three  feet  on 
the  ground,  as  if  walking.  In  f ess  denotes  any  charge 
placed  horizontally  across  the  middle  of  the  field,  as 

12 


90 


HARTFORD.        ITS    \  A  .M  E 


the  device  of  the  Hart  in  the  Plate.*  Landskip  de- 
notes the  base  of  an  escutcheon  when  it  is  painted  as 
a  field  with  a  tree  or  a  vine,  <k:c.,  therein.  We  apply 
it,  in  description,  to  a  part  only  of  the  base,  to  that 
which  is  called  middle  base,  or  in  other  words  to  that 
portion  of  the  bottom  part  of  the  shield  which,  rising 
from  its  point,  lies  between  its  dexter  and  sinister, 
that  is  its  right  and  left  portions.  Charges  thereon  are 
said  to  be  in  middle  base.  Naissant  means  arising  or 
coming  forth.  Cresf  denotes  the  highest  part  of  the 
ornaments  of  a  Coat  of  Arms.  Displayed  is  applied 
to  any  bird  of  prey  with  Avings  extended.  Post  Nubi- 
la  Phoebus  means  After  the  clouds  the  Sun.  The  fig- 
m-e  which  it  fills  in  the  Plate  is  called  the  Scroll.  The 
other  phrases  of  the  heraldic  description  explain  them- 
selves, so  that  the  Reader,  familiarizing  himself  with 
the  meaning,  as  we  give  it,  of  the  terms  purely  tech- 
nical, will  perfectly  understand  the  whole  description. 
The  external  ornaments  of  the  shield,  besides  the 
crest  and  scroll,  called  in  heraldry  Flourish  iug-s,  are 
fanciful.  Our  aim  has  been,  in  conformity  Avith  our 
device  in  other  particulars,  to  make  them  simple. 

Let  us  look  at  the  chief  emblems  of  the  Coat  of 
Arms  now,  briefly,  in  an  associative  aspect.  A  noble 
Hart,  in  the  pride  of  his  years,  with   full  grown  beam 


*  A  nice  critic  might  here  suggest  that,  as  we  have  two  charges,  and  these 
borne  perpendicularly,  one  above  the  other,  we  should  describe  them  as 
blazoned  in  pale,  or  paleways.  But  as  the  leading  emblem  is  the  Hart,  hori- 
zontally placed,  and  as  it  occupies  a  space  beyond  the  limits  of  the  pale 
proper,  we  have  described  it  as  in  the  text.  AVe  have  no  fear  of  a  "  Visita- 
tion" from  the  "  Herald's  College"  in  this  day  and  place. 


A    C  O  A  T    O  F    A  R  M  S  .  91 

and  antlers,*  figures  conspicuously  on  the  face  of  the 
Plate,  and  in  the  very  spot  which  is  called  in  heraldry 
the  Heart  of  the  Shield.  Innocent,  sagacious,  grace- 
ful, powerful,  swift — with  an  eye  in  fact  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  in  the  world,  '  sparkling,  warm  and 
sensible' — with  all  his  senses  exquisitely  acute — most 
delicate  in  the  choice  of  his  pasture — brave  in  de- 
fence— this  splendid  animal,  made,  says  Goldsmith, 
"  to  embellish  the  forest,  and  animate  the  solitudes  of 
nature,"  is  in  our  Design  fording  a  stream  such  as  we 
may  conceive  our  Riveret  to  have  been  more  than 
two  centuries  ago.  The  banks  of  the  stream  are 
green  and  tufted.  On  one  side,  the  bank,  somewhat 
high,  is  crowned  with  bushes.  Mountains,  over- 
topped by  trees,  are  seen  in  the  distance.  The  Hart, 
unstartled  and  thoughtful  of  green  pastures,  is  ap- 
proaching the  brink  of  the  stream.  Thus  then  pleas- 
antly associated  with  noble  qualities  in  one  among 
the  noblest  of  animals,  as  well  as  with  deep  and 
grateful  memories  of  our  o^vn  past,  and  with  a  chaste 
etymology — we  blazon  Hartford  I 

With  an  extract  from  our  State  Coat  of  Arms — 
one  which,  commemorating  the  mournfully  sweet  his- 
tory of  the  Founders  of  our  Town  and  Common- 
wealth, expresses  with  solemn  beauty  the  wise  benef- 
icence of  that  Almighty  Hand  which, out  of  Egypt 
brought  the  vine,  and  here  in  the  Connecticut  valley 
cast  out  the  heathen  and  planted  it,  and  covered  the 

*  Copied  from  the  specimen  Hart  in  tlie  "  Natural  History  of  New  Yorlv" — 
a  work  published  under  tlie  autliority  of  the  State  of  New  Yorlc  by  James  E. 
De  Kay  Esq. 


92  HARTFORD.       ITSNAME. 

hills  with  its  shadow,  and  stretched  out  its  boughs, 
like  goodly  cedar  trees,  unto  the  river,  and  its  branch- 
es unto  the  sea,  filling  the  land  when  it  had  taken 
root,* — ^with  this  imposing,  familiar  emblem  from  our 
own  State  arms,  we  blazon  Connecticut  I 

With  the  Eagle,  bird  of  empire,  whose  happy  flight, 
with  spreading  wings  untired,  is  '  highest  towards 
heaven' — with  this  bird  of  piercing,  sparkling  eye — 
proud  like  his  own  mountain  home — magnanimous 
though  fierce — bird  of  unblenched  front  and  noble 
brow — that  ever  watches  the  nest  it  once  has  plant- 
ed— which,  though  its  plumage  is  grey  with  the  traces 
of  eyen  an  hundred  years,  still  nurses  its  vigorous 
young 

"  Strong-pounced,  and  ardent  with  paternal  fire, 
And  fit  to  raise  a  kingdom  of  their  own" — 

with  this  majestic  child  of  the  sun  "  to  whom  'tis  giv- 
en to  guard  our  banner  of  the  free,"  standing  as  the 
crest  of  our  device,  we  blazon  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
as  belonging  to  our  own  "  land  of  the  free,  and  home 
of  the  brave  I" 

The  motto.  Post  NubiJa  Phcebiis — we  can  speak  of 
it  freely,  as  we  did  not  originate,  but  only  newly  apply 
it.  Is  it  not  rich,  poetical,  sublime  in  meaning?  How 
true  as  to  Hartford  in  the  past — historically !  How 
applicable  in  all  time !  The  Old  World  darkly  op- 
pressed our  Settlers  ere  they  left  their  home  across 

*  Psalm  80,  vv.  8,  9,  10,  11— the  origin  of  our  State  Coat  of  Arm<;.  IIow 
admirably  pertinent  here  this  couplet  from  Pope — 

"Man  like  the  gen'rous  vine,  supported  lives, 

Ttie  strength  he  gains  is  from  th'  embrace  he  gives  I 


ACOATOFARMS.  93 

the  seas — the  New  World  set  them  free.     After  the 
clouds  the    Sun!     Cold  and   famine    frustrated    their 
first    attempts    at    settlement — their    next    succeeded. 
After  the  clouds   the    Sun!     The  startled,  vindictive 
savages  of  our  coast  threatened  them  early  with  de- 
struction, but  they  were  scattered  like  chaff  before  the 
wind — and  down  in  the  stream  of  time  the  tomahawk 
and  the  scalping-knife  were  again  and  often  brand- 
ished for  the  destruction  of  our  town,  but  the  glim- 
mer of  these  savage  weapons  faded  in  the  siiperior 
flash  of  the  pistol  and  gleam  of  the  pike.     After  the 
clouds  the  Sun  !     The  soil  our  early  Townsmen  tilled 
forgot  at  times  to  yield  its  increase — cold  and  rain  sti- 
fled their  seeds  and  fruits — but  the  friendly  Indians 
around  them  and  far  at  the  sources  of  the  Connecti- 
cut husbanded  their  stock,  and  made  the  pale  man's 
face  of  famine  to  smile.     After  the  clouds   the   Sun! 
The  Dutch  vexed  them  from  the   Point — intruded  on 
their  lands — attempted  at  times  to  seize  the  fort  which 
guarded  the  mouth  of  the  river  that  floated  their  com- 
merce— but    sequestration    made  the    Point  peaceful, 
and  bold  hearts  and  a  little  ordnance  preserved  the 
fort.     After  the  clouds  the  Sun!     A  tyrant  attempted 
to  seize   and  destroy  a   Charter  that  protected    their 
township — the   Instrument  was  hid  triumphantly    in 
an  Oak.     After  the  clouds  the  Sun  !     A  minion  of  the 
Duke  of  York  attempted  in   our  own  Main  Street  to 
usurp    the    command  of    our    Train-Band,    but    fled 
ingloriously    away  '  dumbed'    and    deafened    by   the 
drums  and  menaces  of  its  brave  commander.     After 
the  clouds  the  Sun!     French  power  severely  annoyed 
our  townsmen  in  common  with  all  English  Colonists, 


94 


HARTFORD.        ITS    N  A  i^I  E  , 


but  it  was  annihilated  in  the  New  World  at  the  bas- 
tions of  Lonisburgh.  After  the  clouds  the  Sun ! 
Again  and  often  subsequently  the  hand  of  British 
tyranny  lay  heavy  and  sore  upon  our  town  liberty — 
in  common  with  sister  towns  we  triumphantly  threw 
off  its  pressure.  After  the  clouds  the  Sun  I  Toil, 
difficulty,  peril,  disappointment,  occasionally  despair 
even — the  lot  of  all  coiumunities — have  at  various 
times  encompassed  the  path  of  our  town  on  its  jour- 
ney of  two  hundred  and  seventeen  years — but  they  have 
seldom  Ibng  embarassed,  never  choked  our  progress. 
From  about  two  hundred  we  are  now  eighteen  thou- 
sand souls.  From  a  few  colonial  thousand  pounds 
worth  of  property  we  have  now  our  millions.  From 
a  little  commerce  in  skins,  now  a  commerce  various 
almost  as  human  wants,  whose  merchandise,  in  heaps 
almost  colossal,  stares  us  daily  in  the  face  upon  our 
wharves,  in  our  vessels,  or  in  our  warehouses,  our  de- 
pots and  our  cars.  Instead  of  struggling  against  for- 
eign foes  for  life  and  a  livelihood,  we  are  now  dan- 
dling in  the  lap  of  peace,  and  nursing  the  useful  arts. 
Instead  of  want  we  have  abundance.  The  '  hope  de- 
ferred' of  our  first  Settlers,  is  the  hope  fulfilled,  and 
still  fulfilling,  of  our  own  day.  Their  wilderness  as- 
pirations are  our  present  garden  enjoyments.  Though 
thus,  in  the  past,  skies  have  been  at  intervals  dark, 
and  tem.pests  have  lowered,  and  the  elements  burst  in 
storm,  yet  day  has  been  sure  to  break  clear,  peaceful 
and  radiant,  and  so  in  spite  of  all  temporary  obstruc- 
tions, if  we  but  act  well  our  part,  will  continue  to 
break,  long  as  time  on  earth,  immortal  as  hope,  and 


A    C  O  A  T    O  F    A  R  M  S  .  95 

sure  as  the  goodness  of  Heaven.  After  the  clouds  the 
Sun  !     Let  us  thank  God,  and  be  happy ! 

And  now,  if  our  Readers  are  pleased  with  the  de- 
vice we  exhibit,  who  of  the  fair  ones  among  them  will 
paint  one  for — Scaeva  ?  Our  Publishers  will  see  that 
any  such  reach  their  destination,  if  you  please.  Ladies. 
Only  be  sure  that  they  are  well  done !  Then  you'll 
richly  deserve  a  device  of  arms  yourselves!  Suppose, 
by  way  of  compensating  you  in  advance,  we  contrive 
one  for  you  now — for  those  of  you  at  least  who  are 
yet,  like  Naiads,  floating,  unanchored,  on  your  sweet 
streams  of  youth,  and  beauty  and  hope.     Let  us  see ! 

We  have  it!  You  shall,  in  the  first  place,  have  a 
pair  of  arms  coiiped,  that  is  arms  taken  from  the  body 
to  act  representatively,  by  themselves.  These  are  to 
be  impaled  on  a  field  of  gold  bordered  ivith  silver, 
interlacing  with  the  arms  of  some  Adonis,  whose 
"  arched  brows,"  and  "  hawking  eye"  and  "  curls," 
mark  him  out  at  once  as  the  handsomest  of  Support- 
ers to  that  firmest  of  Shields,  the  matrimonial !  How 
pretty  it  would  look — such  a  device — with  Cupid  for 
a  crest,  holding  in  his  dexter[ou»]  hand  an  arrow  en- 
amelled with  flowers,  and  in  the  other  knots  of  silken 
jesses,  and  to  have  blazoned  among  the  bearings  little 
Cherubs,  winged  to  show  that  they  are  capable  of  ris- 
ing in  the  world,  and  rayed  to  show  that  they  are 
sunny !  Sit  and  draw  such  a  design  awhile.  Ladies, 
on  your  '  heart's  table' — and  then  draw  it  on  your 
parlor  table,  on  delicate  rice  paper !  But  don't  forget 
to  paint  the  Hartford  Coat  of  Arms!  Thank  you! 
"  That's  a  good  girl" — each  of  yovi ! 

Sc.EVA. 


96  HARTFORD.        I  T  S    N  A  ^I  E  . 

[Since  tbe  publication  bj-  Screva  of  the  foregoing  article,  many  compli- 
ments have  been  paid  to  his  charming  and  appropriate  Coat  of  Arms.  It 
has  been  adopted  by  the  City  of  Hartford  for  the  City  Seal.  It  has  been  en- 
graven on  bank  notes  and  checques.  It  embellishes  the  heading  of  Insur- 
ance policies,  and  has  been  carved  and  emblazoned  on  our  new  and  beautiful 
steamer  the  "  City  of  Hartford." 

The  Coat  of  Arms  has  also  a-\vakened  the  Muse  of  Poetry  in  various  quar- 
ters— and  from  her  effusions  we  select  the  following — which  were  originally 
contributed  to  the  Hartford  Courant. 


OUR  MOTTO. 

"  Post  Xiibila  Phabiis" — the  Hart  iu  the  stream, 
With  his  antlers  thrown  back  to  the  life-giving  beam, 
And  the  Monarch  of  birds,  as  he  soars  through  the  air, 
The  soul  of  our  motto,  exultingly  bear.  * 

Our  Fathers  I — the}-  toil'd  'mid  the  storm  and  the  foe, 
The  seed  of  a  nation  in  patience  to  sow, 
■\\'hile  the  faith  of  the  Christian  engrav'd  on.  their  breast 
"  Post  IS'ubila  Phabiis,'''  and  led  them  to  rest. 

We  rejoice  in  the  home,  where  as  strangers  they  trod, 
And  with  love  to  our  country,  and  trust  in  our  God, 
^Vould  fain  rear  a  race,  of  whom  history  shall  say 
"  Post  yiibila  Ph(Ebus,"  when  we  pass  away. 
Hartford.  March,  1851. 


HARTFORD— ITS  COAT  OF  ARMS. 

He  is  fording  the  stream,  the  brave,  noble  Hart, 
With  spirits  exulting — not  fearing  the  dart ; 
He  knows  that  before  him  the  pastures  are  green, 
The  birds  gay  with  music,  the  sun  in  its  sheen — 
He  will  soon  reach  the  bank — his  journey  then  done, 
Oh  proudly  he'll  tread  on  the  land  he  has  won  ! 

Land  where  the  Tine  from  an  "  Egypt"  is  brought, 
That  Vine  of  Religion  our  Forefathers  sought  j 
Its  roots  do  implant  the  bold,  happy  and  free. 
It  shall  shadow  the  earth,  and  stretch  out  to  the  sea ! 
God's  breath  in  its  tendrils,  God's  sun  on  its  leaves, 
It  will  bless  for  all  time  the  land  where  it  cleaves ! 


ACOATOFARMS.  97 

The  Eagle  o'erlooks  from  his  '  own  mountain  home," 
With  pinions  outstretclied,  anil  ready  to  roam — 
He  can  speed  through  the  clouds,  he  can  speed  through  the  storm — 
He  can  speed  where  the  fieroost  sun  blazons  his  form — 
He  can  find  the  green  tree  which  no  tempest  can  shock- 
He  can  build  his  loved  nest  firm-fixed  in  the  rock  ! 

Glorious  emblems  these  are  of  the  way 
Our  fathers  pressed  on  in  their  soul-stirring  day  ! 
Theirs  a  stern  conflict — theirs  a  stern  strife — 
Ending  in  death,  but  yet  ending  in  life. 
.  They  died — but  we  live — aye  I  mark  it  each  one — 
Theirs  was  the  cloud  ! — but  ours  is  the  Sun! 

Boston,  June,  1851.  Laura. 

A  ■word  more.  The  invitation,  at  the  close  of  the  foregoing  Article,  to  the 
'fair  ones,'  to  test  their  skill  in  painting  the  Coat  of  Arms,  was  complied 
with  most  pleasantly.  Scteva  received  some  half  dozen  pictures  of  the  De- 
sign from  as  many  different  sources — one  painted  in  oil,  two  in  water  colors, 
and  the  remainder  drawn  in  pencil.  They  were  beautifully  executed,  and 
SciKva  desires  us,  in  his  behalf,  to  return  his  sincere  thanks  to  the  fair 
donors.     Ed.] 


13 


iirtfartr. 


ITS  MUNICIPAL  ORGANIZATION— DOWN  TO  1650. 
No.  10. 
"And  find  the  means  proportioned  to  their  end." 


"  Xor  think  thou  seest  a  wild  disorder  here. 
*  *  *  *        To  the  sight, 

Arrangement  neat  and  chastest  order  reign." 


Pope. 


Young. 


Hartford,  Ho  !  Again  to  its  history,  Readers  of 
ScEBva — because  many  of  you  have  solicited  us  to  re- 
sume— we  would  fain  oblige — and  because  the  fit  of 
writing  is  upon  us,  and  we  cannot  easily  resist  the 
convulsion.*  Pleasant  it  is  to  us  that  our  former  Ar- 
ticles were  received  with  favor.  More  pleasant  it  is 
to  find,  with  you  Readers,  the  mind  and  the  heart  to 
appreciate,  for  the  sake  of  its  instruction,  and  as  a 
source  of  just  pride,  the  facts  and  the  sentiments 
which  give  tongue  to  the  life  of  our  beloved  Town  in 
the  olden  time ! 

In  our  first  series  of  Articles  we  launched  the 
Town.     In  the  series  we  now  propose  we  shall  fol- 


*  [An  interval  of  two  months  and  a  half  elapsed  between  the  publication 
of  this  and  the  preceding  Article.    Ed.] 


100  HARTFORD. 

low  it  down  the  stream  of  time  for  fifteen  years — to 
1650.  What  we  have  to  say  will  embrace  facts  and 
circumstances  true  within  this  period,  which,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience,  we  shall  denominate  the  First 
Period  of  the  Town,  and  we  shall  present  its  features 
distributed  under  appropriate  heads.  The  first  in  or- 
der is  that  which  hangs  in  capitals  over  the  top  of  the 
paper  structure  built  for  you  to-day,  the  Municipal 
Organization  of  the  Town.  Hear  us  now  for  our 
cause,  and  "  have  patience  that  you  may  hear !" 

In  the  feature  then  under  present  consideration, 
Hartford,  during  its  First  Period,  made  much  im- 
provement. Its  powers  and  duties  as  a  township, 
through  the  double  force  of  its  own  legislation  and 
that  of  the  General  Court,  became  better  defined, 
more  ample,  and  more  effective.  Increased  security 
was  thrown  over  the  character  of  its  population,  and 
over  rights  and  property  of  every  description. 

The  policy  adopted  on  the  first  organization  of  the 
Town  with  regard  to  Inhabitants,  was  steadily  pur- 
sued and  improved.  Good  character,  an  honest  life 
and  conversation,  and  the  vote  of  the  major  part  of 
the  Town,  were  still  absolutely  essential  to  the  admis- 
sion of  new  citizens.  Still  vagrants  and  vicious  per- 
sons were  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  settlement. 
Still  the  sojourn  of  strangers  in  families  was  looked 
upon  with  jealousy,  and  by  a  new  precaution  their 
entertainment  above  one  month,  without  leave  from 
the  Town,  exposed  their  hosts  "  to  be  called  in  ques- 
tion for  the  same,"  and  to  the  necessity  of  discharging 
the  Town  "  from  any  cost  or  trouble  that  might  come 


ITS    MUNICIPAL    ORGANIZATION.  101 

thereby."  Whether  young  unmarried  men  were  still 
compelled,  as  at  first,  to  secure  public  permission  in 
order  to  dwell  in  such  families  as  they  pleased,  or  to 
keep  house  by  themselves,  is  doubtful.  The  system 
of  the  Settlers  in  this  respect,  founded,  as  it  seems  to 
have  been,  upon  rather  too  strict  a  view  of  wedded 
love  as  the  '  true  source  of  human  offspring,'  and 
'  sole  propriety'  in  the  new  '  paradise'  they  were  form- 
ing, soon  gave  way,  we  are  inclined  to  think,  to 
the  natural  resentment,  importunity  or  independence 
of  the  bachelors.  The  implication  it  carried  that 
those  'loveless,  joyless,  unendeared'  members  of  so- 
ciety, who  have  never  yet  chosen  "  to  light  their  con- 
stant lamp,  and  wave  their  purple  wings,"  were  inca- 
pable of  behaving  themselves  with  propriety,  could 
hardly  have  been  borne  for  any  great  length  of  time, 
we  think,  Avith  patience,  and  breaches  of  the  Orders 
which  consigned  them  to  the  particular  surveillance  of 
the  Town,  began  soon,  doubtless,  to  be  winked  at  by 
the  authorities,  as  we  find  no  renewal  or  mention  of 
these  Orders  in  the  Records  subsequent  to  their  first 
passage.  Still  the  eye  of  the  Settlers  was  vigilant, 
keenly  so,  upon  every  Inhabitant.  Their  high  sense 
of  his  duties,  of  those  which  devolved  upon  every  cit- 
izen, and  their  solemn  purpose  of  committing  each, 
through  the  profound  and  awe-inspiring  obligations  of 
religious  faith,  to  the  due  discharge  of  these  duties,  is 
strikingly  shown  in  the  following  Oath  of  FideHtij — 
which,  framed  in  1640,  by  the  General  Court,  was  ad- 
ministered during  the  Period  now  under  considera- 
tion, by  any  two  or  three  Magistrates,  to  all  male  per- 
sons above  sixteen  years  of  age,  upon  a  certificate  of 


102 


HARTFORD, 


good  behavior.  Read  it — and  contrasting  with  it,  if 
you  please,  our  present  Freeman's  oath,  mark  the  far 
superior  gravity  and  significance  of  the  Oath  of  the 
olden  time  I 

"  I,  A.  B.  being  by  the  Providence  of  God  an  inhabitant  within 
"  the  Jurisdiction  of  Conectecott,  doe  acknowledge  myselfe  to  be 
"  subjecte  to  the  Government  thereof,  and  doe  sweare  by  the  great 
"  and  dreadfull  name  of  the  everliveing  God,  to  be  true  and  faithfull 
"  unto  the  same,  and  doe  submit  boath  my  person  and  estate  there- 
"  unto,  according  to  all  the  holsome  lawes  and  orders  that  there  are, 
"  or  that  hereafter  shall  be  made,  and  established  by  lawful!  authority, 
"  and  that  I  will  neither  plott  nor  practice  any  evell  against  the  same, 
"  nor  consent  to  any  that  shall  so  do,  but  will  tymely  discover  the 
"same  to  lawfull  ciuthority  there  established;  and  that  I  will,  as  in 
"  duty  bound  mayntayne  the  honner  of  the  same  and  of  the  lawfull 
"  magestralts  thereof,  promoting  the  publike  good  of  it,  whilst  I  shall 
"  soe  continue  an  Inhabitant  there  ;  and  whensoever  I  shall  give  my 
"  voate  or  suffrage  touching  any  matter  which  concerns  this  Com- 
"  mon wealth  being  cauld  thereunto,  will  give  it  as  in  my  conscience 
"  I  shall  judge  may  conduce  to  the  best  good  of  the  same,  without  re- 
"  spect  of  persons  or  favor  of  any  man.  So  helpe  me  God  in  our 
"  Lord  Jesus  Christe." 

While  the  organization  of  the  Town  was  thus  im- 
proved as  respects  Inhabitants,  it  was  also  advanced 
in  regard  to  its  public  functionaries.  From  time  to 
time  old  officers  were  clothed  with  new  powers,  and 
new  officers  were  created.  To  the  ordinarv  duties  of 
Selectmen  were  added,  a  supervision  of  the  estates  of 
persons  deceased,  a  supervision  of  the  common  lands, 
and  certain  judicial  powers  in  the  regulation  of  wages 
and  prices.  Their  care  of  estates  on  the  death  of 
owners,  deserves  particular  notice,  founded  as  it  was 
upon  a  public  anxiety  that  the  rights  of  kindred,  lega- 


ITS    MUNICIPAIi    ORGANIZATION, 


103 


tees  and  creditors,  should  bo  fully  secured,  and  "jus- 
tice and  equity  be  done."  For  this  purpose  the  Se- 
lectmen were  empowered  and  directed  to  take  inven- 
tories, and  copies  of  wills,  if  made,  and  report  them 
carefully,  together  with  the  names  of  the  parties  inter- 
ested, to  the  Public  Court  for  registry  and  for  orders 
of  administration — and  meanwhile  they  were  to  watch 
over  and  improve  with  assiduity  the  property  placed 
in  their  custody.  To  attend  upon  them  in  these  mat- 
ters, as  well  as  '  in  all  such  things  as  they  should  ap- 
point,' two  persons  were  chosen  by  the  Town.  The 
first  chosen  were  Arthur  Smith  and  Thomas  Wood. 

In  1639,  a  Town  Recorder  or  Clerk  was  for  the  first 
time  appointed.  Previous  to  this  period  town  entries 
were  made  loosely,  more  as  memoranda  than  as  grave 
records,  and  by  one  or  more  of  the  Selectmen.  Now 
they  were  to  be  made  regularly,  in  a  book  kept  for  the 
purpose,  and  by  an  exclusive  and  competent  officer. 
Every  man's  house  and  land,  with  the  bounds  and 
quantity  of  the  same,  both  property  of  this  kind  in 
possession  and  that  to  be  subsequently  acquired — and 
all  bargains  and  mortgages  of  land — ^were  to  be  re- 
corded, and  a  transcript  of  the  same,  fairly  written, 
was  to  be  presented  to  every  General  Court  to  be 
again  recorded  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony.  If 
copies  were  wanted  they  were  to  be  made  out  by  the 
Clerk,  and  to  be  signed  by  himself  and  any  two  of 
the  Selectmen.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Town 
Clerk  besides  to  keep  a  record  of  all  marriages  and 
births — to  enter  caveats  of  creditors  against  the  real 
estate  of  debtors  who  were  suspected  of  an  intention 
to  defraud — to  return  these  caveats  to  the  next  Partic- 


104 


HARTFORD, 


ular  Court,  and,  in  case  the  creditor  failed  to  prose- 
cute, to  enter  a  vacat  upon  them.  Thus  was  system 
introduced  into  transfers  of  real  property.  Order  and 
publicity  gave  security  to  titles,  and  the  fraudulent 
alienation  of  real  estate  was  in  a  great  degree  pre- 
vented. The  first  clerk  in  the  office  now  described 
was  John  Steele — an  original  commissioner  of  the  col- 
ony, a  magistrate,  a  member  for  more  than  twenty 
years  of  the  General  Court,  subsequently  Town  Clerk 
of  Farmington,  and  in  all  respects  a  useful  and  re- 
spectable man. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  with  the  establishment  of 
a  Town  Clerk,  another  new  officer  was  created — a 
Toicri  Crier.  Tliomas  Woodford^  1640,  received  this 
appointment.  Was  anything  lost — two  pence  were 
to  be  paid  for  the  use  of  his  lungs  in  public  meeting. 
Were  stray  goods  placed  in  the  hands  of  either  of 
two  men  who  were  appointed,  one  for  the  North  and 
one  for  the  South  side  of  Little  River,  to  receive 
them,  Thomas  cried  them  through  the  streets,  for  the 
Settlers  were  very  particular  about  restoring  lost  prop- 
erty. It  is  rather  a  striking  proof  of  their  exactness 
in  this  respect,  that,  by  one  of  their  town  acts,  they 
make  the  finder  who  fails  to  place  such  property  in 
the  hands  of  the  proper  authority  guilty  of  tlieft. 

Two  other  new  officers  were  soon  added,  called 
Fence-  Viewers.  The  stock  of  cattle,  swine,  goats  and 
horses  possessed  by  the  Settlers  was  quite  large.  The 
mischief  they  might  do,  running  at  large,  is  obvious. 
The  extreme  importance  of  crops  is  also  obvious. 
Hence  a  system  of  fencing  and  of  pounding  was  at 
once  established.     Fences  shut  out  the  North  and  the 


ITS    MUNICIPAL    ORGANIZATION.  105 

South  and  the  Little  Meadows  from  the  rest  of  the 
Town.  Fences  enclosed  cultivated  tracts  in  all  parts 
of  the  Town.  Fences  shut  out  the  Town  from  the 
Dutch  grounds.  These  were  all  to  be  "  good  and  suf- 
ficient," and  were  to  be  judged  so  by  the  Fence- View- 
ers. In  consideration  of  their  good  construction  lands 
were  frequently  given  to  individuals,  as  in  one  in- 
stance thirty  acres  even.  The  letters  of  the  names  of 
proprietors,  in  many  cases,  were  to  be  set  on  stakes — 
and  children,  alas  for  their  joyous  pastime,  were  for- 
bidden to  swing  upon  the  public  gates.  If  a  Fence- 
Viewer  or  the  Constable  caught  them  '  at  it,'  wo  to 
the  little  urchins !  Hard,  was  it  not,  to  disturb  such 
their  juvenile  luxury  of  motion  ?  It  is  the  child's  by 
prescriptive  right ! 

We  have  heretofore  spoken  of  Sarveyors  and  Chim- 
ney- Vieiuers  as  instituted  by  the  Town  at  its  start. 
The  powers  and  duties  of  these  officers  increased 
with  the  progress  of  time  within  the  period  upon 
which  we  dweU. 

The  Surveyors,  two  of  whom  were  annually  chosen, 
were  specially  charged  with  the  construction  and  care 
of  highways.  They  were  to  call  out  in  their  course, 
one  day  in  every  year,  every  person  and  team  tit  for 
labor,  to  make  and  mend  the  roads,  and  to  construct 
little  causeways  or  sidewalks  in  various  parts  of  the 
town.  In  addition  to  this  they  were  to  survey  the 
lines  of  fences  and  the  common  lands,  for  which  pur- 
pose the  Town  owned  and  kept  a  chain,  which  was  let 
out  at  two  pence  a  day,  and  was  to  be  mended,  if  bro- 
ken, by  the  person  using  it.     It  finally,  1644,  passed 

into  the  hands  of  John  Talcott  and  his  heirs  for  twen- 
14 


lOG  HARTFORD. 

ty  years,  upon  a  special  agreement  to  pay  the  Town 
for  its  use. 

The  Chimney-  Viewers  were  to  examine  chimneys 
generally  once  a  month,  and  exact  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  for  each  failure  to  cleanse  them.  They  were 
to  see  that  ladders  were  kept  at  each  house,  or  trees 
in  place  of  the  ladders.  No  person  was  to  carry  any 
fire  out  of  doors,  unless  safely  covered,  under  a  penalty 
of  twelvepence.  It  is  obvious  that  great  care  in  re- 
gard to  tires  was  taken  by  the  Town.  Orders  upon 
this  subject  are  very  frequent.  They  are  the  founda- 
tion of  our  Fire  Department. 

Thus,  as  now  described,  did  Hartford  improve  its 
municipal  organization  within  its  first  fifteen  years. 
Cemented  also,  by  the  Constitution  of  1639,  in  ^varm- 
er  sympathy  with  her  sister  towns  upon  the  River, 
and  by  the  Confederation  of  1644,  in  closer  alliance 
with  all  New  England  towns,  she  felt  the  grateful 
force  of  strong  arms  about  her  to  sustain  and  defend 
the  institutions  she  was  cherishing,  and  to  urge  along, 
with  one  hope,  one  life,  one  destiny,  one  glory,  upon 
the  weaves,  as  it  were,  of  a  wilderness,  the  Ark  of 
New  England  liberty. 

SC/EVA. 


giirtfartr. 


ITS  JUDICIAL  ORGAOTZATION— DOWN  TO  1650. 
No.  11. 

•'  1.  That,  in  the  administration  of  justice,  1  am  intrusted  for  God,  the 
king,  and  mj-  countrj^,  and  therefore, 

"2.  That  it  be  done,  first,  uprightly ;  secondly,  deliberately ;  thirdly,  reso- 
lutely. 

"3.  That  I  rest  not  on  my  own  understanding  and  strength,  but  implore 
and  rest  upon  the  du-ection  and  strength  of  God." 

Sir  Matthew  Hale,  on  becoming  a  Judge. 

Law — "  the  perfection  of  reason,"  or  that  should  be ! 
Abstractly,  like  Truth  in  the  sublime  conception  of 
Plato — "  the  Body  of  God  r  Would  not  all  so  think, 
could  the  ideas,  above,  of  the  illustrious  Hale  be  real- 
ized in  mortal  practice — could  Law  be  made,  in  human 
administration,  to  rest  ever  upon  "  the  direction  and 
strength"  of  the  Almighty  Fountain  of  its  great  tri- 
une elements  of  justice,  and  equity,  and  mercy?  Yet 
such  is  not  experience,  in  this  world.  We  fear  it  nev- 
er will  be  till  the  millenium — nor  then  if  there  is  one 
woe  or  even  one  little  quarrelsome  impulse  left  to 
play  its  discordant  part,  or  one  lawyer,  doctor  or  di- 
vine to  take  its  side.  Well  however  is  it  that  the 
Ideal  of  Law  be  lifted,  as  Hale  lifts  it,  high  as  Heav- 
en !     Well  that  Law  can  be  thus  touched  and  exalted 


108  HARTFORD. 

with  hues  other  than  those  of  earth — that  the  splen- 
dors of  a  loftier  world  can  drape  its  elemental  form, 
and  the  glory  of  Eternity  embalm  its  existence !  Else, 
in  the  weakness  of  man,  it  would  be  without  support, 

"Amid  a  multitude  of  artless  hands, 
Elgin's  sure  perquisite" — 

or  in  the  sea  of  man's  passion,  when  the  black  blast 
blows  hard,  would  become  at  once  a  wTeck — 

"  the  tide  returning  hoarse 
To  sweep  it  from  our  sight." 

Heavenward,  with  Hale,  did  the  Settlers  of  Hart- 
ford look  for  the  deep  foundation  of  their  Law — Bi- 
bleward  too  strictly  in  adopting  the  death  penalties 
of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  as  in  their  ten  Capital 
Crimes — yet,  though  thus  theocratic  somewhat  in 
their  views,  earthward  they  looked  for  the  forms  of 
Law,  and  necessarily  for  its  agencies.  They  had 
their  dift'erences  and  disputes,  of  course.  How  were 
these  settled  ?  By  the  General  Court — by  the  Partic- 
ular Court — by  a  Town  Court — by  a  colonial  Magis- 
trate, one  or  more — by  Constables — by  the  Select- 
men— by  Arbitrators,  and  by  Committees.  Instru- 
mentalities enough — one  would  think !  To  be  sure — 
and  the  Settlers  intended  to  have  enough,  for  justice 
lay  near  to  their  hearts ! 

The  General  Court,  not  judicial  in  its  structure,  en- 
tertained occasionally,  where  parties  were  concerned, 
questions  of  morals,  manners  and  religion,  and  con- 
tracts involving  the  general  interests.  It  enforced  or 
prohibited  acts,  gave  counsel,  or  administered  censure, 


ITS    JUDICIAL    ORGANIZATION.  109 

somewhat  at  discretion,  but  always  within  what  were 
deemed  the  bounds  of  prudence  and  equity,  and  the 
rules  of  "  God's  word."  The  Particular  Court  dealt 
chiefly,  and  always  judicially,  with  debts  or  trespas- 
ses involving  above  forty  shillings  in  value,  and  with 
grave  crimes,  wrongs  and  misdemeanors — and  Juries, 
the  great  palladium  of  liberty,  thanks  to  the  Founders 
of  our  Commonwealth,  were  coeval  with  Hartford. 
The  Town  Court,  instituted  for  the  first  time  in  1639, 
was  that  in  which  all  controversies,  either  trespasses 
or  debts  not  exceeding  forty  shillings,  were  tried, 
whenever  both  parties  lived  in  the  same  town.  Hart- 
ford, once  every  year,  elected  three,  five,  or  seven  of 
its  chief  inhabitants,  one  of  whom,  with  a  casting 
voice,  was  chosen  Moderator,  and  these  persons,  or 
the  major  part  of  them,  met  once  every  two  months — 
summoned  parties  to  answer — administered  oaths  to 
witnesses — heard  and  determined,  subject  to  appeal, 
all  cases  which  fell  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  gave 
judgment  and  execution  against  the  party  offending. 

Magistrates,  by  whom  is  here  meant  the  assistants 
or  judges  of  the  Particular  Court,  sworn  as  they  were 
to  administer  justice  according  to  established  laws, 
and  "for  want  thereof  according  to  the  rule  of  the 
word  of  God,"  exercised  much  authority  out  of  as 
well  as  in  term  time.  To  them  controversies  were 
frequently  referred — by  them  arbitrated.  They  exer- 
cised a  power,  in  early  times,  somewhat  undefined, 
enforcing  rights,  preventing  wrongs  and  punishing 
misdemeanors,  in  the  places  of  their  residence  as  well 
as  in  other  towns,  and  were  armed  by  statute  with 


110  HARTFORD. 

special  authority  to  protect  the  public  peace  from 
marauding  or  trespassing  Indians.  Read  the  Oath 
which  the  Hartford  Settlers,  in  common  wdth  those  of 
Wethersfield  and  Windsor,  provided  for  such  Magis- 
trates !  Mark  the  depth  of  its  solemn  invocation,  the 
grandeur  of  its  aim,  the  simple  yet  firm  terms  in 
which  it  imposes  responsibility,  and  its  lofty  recog- 
nition of  Almighty  Justice ! 

"  I,  N.  W.  being  chosen  a  Magistrate  witliin  this  Jurisdiction  for 
"the  yeai^e  ensueing,  do  sweare  by  the  great  and  dreadful!  name  of 
"the  everliveing  God,  to  promote  the  publike  good  and  peace  of  the 
"  same,  according  to  the  best  of  my  skill,  and  that  I  will  mayntayne 
"all  the  lawful!  priviledges  thereof  according  to  my  understanding, 
"  as  also  to  assist  in  the  execution  of  all  such  wholesome  laws  as  are 
"  made  or  shall  be  made  by  lawfuU  authority  heare  established,  and 
"  will  further  the  execution  of  Justice  for  the  tyme  aforesaid  accord- 
"  ing  to  the  righteous  rule  of  God's  word ;  so  help  me  God,  etc." 

Constables,  t\vo  of  them  at  first,  of  town  appoint- 
ment, besides  their  duties  as  instrviments  of  justice  to 
execute  the  orders  of  magistrates  and  courts,  Avere 
specially  charged  with  preserving  the  peace  of  our 
Town,  with  executing  its  laws  when  resisted,  with 
the  enforcement  of  penalties,  with  the  collection  oft- 
en of  rates,  and  with  the  oversight  of  Avatches  and 
wards.  Read  also  the  solemn  Oath  which  they  were 
obliged  to  take ! 

"  I,  A.  B.  of  W,  doe  sweare  by  the  greate  and  dreadful!  name  of 
"  the  everliveing  God,  that  for  the  yeare  ensuing,  and  until!  a  new  be 
"  chosen,  I  will  faythfuUy  execute  the  office  and  place  of  a  Constable 
"  for  and  within  the  said  plantation  of  W,  and  the  lymits  thereof,  and 
"  that  I  will  endevor  to  presearve  the  publike  peace  of  the  said  place, 
"  and  Commonwealth,  and  will  doe  my  best  endeavor  to  see  all  watch- 


ITS    JUDICIAL    ORGANIZATION.  Ill 

"  es  and  wards  executed,  and  to  obey  and  execute  all  lawful  com- 
"  mands  or  warrants  that  come  from  any  Magestrat  or  Magestrats  or 
"  Courte,  so  helpe  me  God,  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

To  the  conservators  of  the  public  peace  were  added, 
in  1643,  Grand  Jurors,  who  were  distributed  through 
the  three  towns  of  the  Colony.  Of  course  Hartford 
had  its  share,  and  in  the  power  of  these  officers  "to 
make  presentment  of  the  breaches  of  any  laws  or  or- 
ders or  any  other  misdemeanors  known  of  in  the  ju- 
risdiction," had  a  new  safeguard  added  to  its  good  or- 
der and  security. 

The  Selectmen,  Arbitrators  and  Committees,  very 
often  in  the  period  under  consideration,  constituted 
tribunals  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  and  adjust- 
ment of  grievances.  To  the  first,  besides  difficulties 
which  grew  out  of  their  ordinary  administration  of 
town  affairs,  w^ere  specially  referred  all  those  arising 
from  unreasonable  prices  in  the  sale  of  commodities, 
as  well  as  all  oppressions  resulting  from  any  "  over- 
burdened or  disproportioned"  labor  done  by  individu- 
als for  the  Town,  and  occasioned  by  "  the  ignorance 
or  corruption"  of  those  to  whom  the  management  of 
such  work  was  enti-usted.  Their  decisions,  as  well  as 
those  made  by  Arbitrators  and  Committees,  so  far  as 
appears,'  were  made  in  a  spirit  of  kindness,  modera- 
tion and  justice,  and  appeals  from  them  were  rarely, 
if  ever,  made  in  the  period  upon  which  we  dwell. 

Thus  fortified  with  Courts  and  Juries,  and  with  nu- 
merous ministers  of  the  law,  whose  functions,  though 
of  necessity  accommodated  to  the  exigencies  of  a 
new  settlement,  and  modified  by  the  peculiar  spirit  of 
those  who  braved  a  wilderness,  yet  rested  firmly  on 


112  HARTFORD. 

the  broad  foundations  of  liberty  and  truth,  Hartford 
enjoyed,  during  its  First  Period,  an  easy,  cheap  and 
effective  administration  of  justice.  The  Town  there- 
fore, so  far  as  the  machinery  of  law  is  concerned,  was 
at  once  prepared  to  prosper.  Fundamental  rule  of 
civil  conduct  as  law  is — ^entering  as  it  does  vitally  into 
every  interest  of  society — protecting  as  it  does  all  civ- 
ilized effort  for  the  superior  development  of  life  and  lib- 
erty and  for  the  acquisition  of  property — the  Settlers 
of  Hartford  gave  it  immediately  a  full  and  free  space 
in  their  system.  That  it  occupied  with  them  such  a 
space,  and  was  withal  so  simple  yet  so  strong,  at  a 
period  too  when  in  the  old  country  it  was  not  yet  half 
emancipated  from  feudal  complexity  and  restraint — 
when  rights  and  property  were  still  precarious,  still 
hung  trembling  on  the  lips  of  power — is  matter  of 
grateful  surprise.  That  it  has  endured,  in  its  princi- 
ples as  they  apply  to  our  Town  unchanged  to  the 
present  day,  with  the  names  and  functions  of  almost 
all  its  officers  still  nearly  the  same,  and  its  practical 
forms  really  in  no  great  degree  improved,  certainly 
not  in  simplicity,  bespeaks  a  sagacity,  practical  good 
sense,  and  love  of  liberty,  on  the  part  of  the  Settlers 
of  our  valley,  which  are  worthy  of  the  highest  rever- 
ence. Hartford  deserved  to  prosper  under  the  legal 
and  municipal  system  which  was  first  established.  It 
was  truly  patriotic  and  philosophic.  It  nobly  an- 
swered its  end  more  than  two  centuries  ago.  It  has 
been  fulfilling  it  ever  since — and  is  now — yet  it  does 
not  exhaust !  Be  it  the  fervent  wish  of  all  that  the 
rush  of  years  may  never  break  its  strength ! 

SCiKVA. 


artfarlr. 


ITS  MILITARY  HISTORY— DOWN  TO  1650. 

Xo.  12. 

"  Tell  me,  man  of  military  renown,  in  how  many  months  were  they  all 
swept  off  by  the  thirty  savage  tribes  enumerated  within  the  early  limits  of 
New  England?"  Everett. 

"  Xo !  b}-  the  mar^-els  of  thine  hand, 
Thou  wilt  save  thy  chosen  band." 

Ililman. 

Spite  of  the  prudence  and  kindness  with  which  the 
Settlers  of  Hartford,  and  of  Connecticut  generally, 
treated  the  Indians,  their  lives,  during  the  First  Pe- 
riod, were  passed  in  almost  constant  apprehension. 
The  Indian  icould  steal,  by  day,  by  night,  whenever 
he  got  a  chance — ^w-hatever  he  could  get.  He  would 
lurk  in  dwellings,  or  break  them  open,  for  plunder. 
Cattle  and  swine  he  would  "  spoil  or  kill  with  trappes, 
dogges  or  arrowes."  He  would  threaten,  insult,  plot, 
waylay.  True  to  his  savage  instincts,  he  would  do 
mischief  and  create  alarm.  Hartford  therefore,  in 
common  with  her  sister  towns,  was  ever  on  the  de- 
fensive. The  Records  show  her  precautions.  Watch 
and  ward  were  maintained  constantly  by  night,  much 
of  the  time  by  day.  The  Meeting  House  was  always 
15 


114 


H  ARTFO  RD, 


specially  guarded.  It  was  amid  the  tramp  of  armed 
men  that,  most  of  the  time,  public  prayer  and  praise 
went  up  to  God.  The  Settlers  had  often  to  take  their 
weapons  of  war  with  their  instruments  of  husbandry 
to  the  fields  they  tilled.  The  Town  kept  ammunition, 
several  barrels,  always  on  hand,  and  each  soldier 
always  had  enough.  Indians  were  forbidden  to  han- 
dle "  Englishmen's  weapons  of  any  sorte,"  and  if 
they  possessed  any,  were  to  deliver  them  up  or  be  ac- 
counted enemies.  Smiths  were  not  to  work  for  them. 
Trade  with  them  "  in  any  instrument  or  matter  made 
of  iron  or  Steele"  was  forbidden.  They  could  have 
no  powder  or  shot.  They  were  not  permitted  to  walk 
in  the  Town  by  night,  and  might  be  shot  if  they  ran 
from  the  watch.  They  were  forbidden  to  enter  hous- 
es except  under  certain  fixed  restrictions  as  to  time 
and  numbers,  or  persons. 

Such,  down  to  1650,  was  the  every-day  condition, 
almost,  of  Hartford  in  regard  to  the  Indians,  save 
when  the  Pequot  War  in  1637,  and  the  supposed 
Narragansett  Plot  in  1642,  multiplied  its  dangers 
and  deepened  its  alarm.  Both  of  these  occasions,  of 
course,  increased  the  public  precautions — the  first  es- 
pecially so. 

Inappeasably  jealous  of  the  w^hites,  the  Pequots,  it 
is  well  known,  gave  way  to  the  fiercest  impulses  of 
their  barbarous  nature.  Lurking  everywhere  almost, 
they  would  rob,  captivate,  kill,  torture,  and  fire  dwel- 
lings, storehouses  and  crops.  Their  murder  of  Stone, 
and  Norton,  and  Oldham,  of  numbers  of  the  garrison 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  of  more  than  thirty 
in  all  of  the   English — the   slow,  fearful  tortures  with 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.  115 

which  they  dispatched  Butterfield  and  Tilly,  and  the 
mocking,  marauding  and  murdering  expedition  of  one 
hundred  of  them  to  Wethersfield,  created  general  con- 
sternation. The  Settlers  of  Hartford  could  not  go 
to  work  in  the  fields,  not  even  to  church,  nor  eat, 
nor  sleep,  nor  travel,  but  with  arms  in  their  hands. 
The  Pequots,  to  use  the  language  of  Mason,  were 
"  thorns  in  their  eyes  and  slashing  scourges  in  their 
sides."  No  pibroch  '  savage  shrill,'  as  of  a  '  Came- 
ron's gathering,'  sounded  their  approach,  either  '  in 
the  noon  of  night'  or  by  day.  They  were  silent  and 
skulking  as  adders.  Hartford,  therefore,  doubled  and 
trebled  its  sentinels, '  the  drums  beating'  as  they  took 
their  stations  "  in  every  convenient  place,"  and  each 
soldier  of  the  Town  was  "  commanded  to  be  in  readi- 
ness upon  an  alarm,  upon  a  penalty  of  five  pound." 
And  this  state  of  dread  and  watchfulness  continued 
until  the  daring,  well  devised,  triumphant  expedition 
of  Mason  exterminated,  as  if  through  the  vengeance 
of  the  Almighty,  the  wily  and  powerful  Sassacus  and 
his  tribe. 

To  this  great  undertaking  Hartford  contributed 
more  men  and  supplies  than  any  other  town.  Of  the 
ninety  soldiers  under  Mason,  it  supplied  forty-two — of 
armor  fourteen  pieces — and  of  provisions,  eighty-four 
bushels  of  corn,  the  half  of  it  baked  in  biscuit  and 
half  in  meal,  three  firkins  of  suet  and  two  of  butter, 
together  "  with  that  at  the  River's  mouth,"  four  bush- 
els of  oatmeal,  two  of  peas,  two  of  salt,  and  "  500  of 
fish." 

Who  were  these  '■'■Soldiers  under  Mason'''  from  Hart- 
ford— these  warriors,  the  first  from  our   Town  in  the 


116  HARTFORD. 

first  military  expedition  of  new-born  Connecticut  ? 
Thanks  to  the  researches  of  N.  Goodwin  and  J.  H. 
Trumbull  Esquires  in  aid  of  our  own,  we  are  able  to 
give  their  names — nearly  all  of  them.  Pioneers  these 
men  were  in  a  fearful  risk  of  life  and  treasure  to  save 
a  State,  and  it  is  gratifying  indeed  to  learn  who  they 
were.  Defenders  of  liberty  against  barbaric  wiles 
and  fierceness — eagle-eyed  and  eagle-hearted  champi- 
ons as  they  were,  in  days  black  with  peril,  of  that 
glorious  gem  of  civilization  in  whose  effulgence  their 
posterity  of  Hartford  now  bathes  and  wantons — it  is 
good  that  they  should  be  commemorated.  Their's 
the  laurel  A\Teath !  Their's  reverence  i  Their's  affec- 
tion I  And  it  was  but  just  in  Connecticut  to  reward 
them  as  it  did  in  their  day — and  as  we  do  those  who 
bravely  fight  our  battles  now — with  grants  of  land. 
That  Soldier's  Field,  of  which  we  spoke  in  Article 
Third — and  with  a  hint  to  the  worthy  ^Husband'  of 
our  Town,  which  has  proved  most  productive — was  a 
gift  to  them,  and  received  its  name  from  the  fact.*  It 
is  by  following  the  distribution  of  this  tract  of  land, 

^Soldier's  Field  lay  west  of  our  North  Meadow  Creek,  its  eastern  bound 
nearly  coinciding  with  the  line  of  the  Branch  Railroad.  It  extended  to  the 
Meadow  Hill,  on  which  Dr.  Bushnell's  hoiise  now  stands,  on  the  west — and 
to  Village  Street  on  the  south.  Its  bounds  on  the  north  cannot  now  be  ex- 
actly ascertained.  It  embraced  an  area  of  from  sixty  to  eighty  acres.  Among 
other  proofs  that  it  was  used  as  stated  in  the  text  are  the  following  deposi- 
tions— quite  conclusive  in  themselves — of  Thomas  Burr  and  of  Joseph  Wads- 
worth,  the  hero  who  saved  the  Charter  of  Connecticut,  made  in  1721,  in  sup- 
port of  a  petition  of  Benjamin  Munn  for  a  grant  of  land. 

"  These  may  informe  ye  Honoured  General  Courte  that  nij'  Hon'rd  Father 
having  been  a  first  planter  of  Hartford,  I  in  my  youth,  who  am  now  74  years 
old,  did  often  hear  my  said  Father  say  that  those  Lots  called  the  Soldier's 
Field  were  Lots  granted  to  ye  Pcquoit  soldiers  only,  and  that  for  their  good 
service  in  said  War.  Joseph  Wadswokth." 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.  117 

as  it  appears  in  the  old  first  book  of  our  Town  Rec- 
ords, that,  chiefly,  we  secure  their  names.  And  here 
they  are  !  Read  them,  pray,  with  that  thoughtfulness 
which  their  memory  deserves ! 

John  Brunson,  William  Blumjield^  Thomas  Bull, 
Thomas  Bunce,  Thomas  Barnes,  Peter  Blachford,  Ben- 
jamin Burr,  John  Clarke,  Nicholas  Clarke,  Capt.  Johti 
Cullick,  Sergeant  Philip  Davis,  Nicholas  Disborovgh, 
William  Hey  den,  Thomas  Hales,  Samnel  Hales,  John 
Hills,  Thomas  Hollyhut,  [Hurlbut,)  John  Halloiray, 
Jonathan  Ince,  Benjamin  Munn,  Nicholas  Olmsted, 
Richard  Olmsted,  John  Piirchas,  {Purkas  or  Perkins,) 
William  Pratt,  William  Phillips,  Thomas  Root,  Thom- 
as Spencer,  Thomas  Stantoyi,  Rev.  Samuel  Stone, 
George  Steele,  Samuel  Wliitehead,  John  Warner.  To 
these  may  probably  be  added  the  names  of  Thomas 
Munson,  Stephen  Hart,  Zachary  Field,  and  William 
Cor  nw  ell. 

Shortly  after  the  Pequot  conquest  it  became  neces- 
sary to  maintain  it  by  force  of  arms,  and  here  Hart- 
ford was  again  forward.  Of  the  forty  men  sent  un- 
der Lieutenant  Seely  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  our 
Town  furnished  nineteen,  and  in  supplies  twenty- 
eight  bushels  of  corn,  forty  pounds  of  butter,  half  a 
hundred  of  cheese,  and  a  hundred  pounds  of  beef,  be- 
sides fish.  Of  forty  men  sent  again  under  Mason,  to 
enforce  against  the   Pequots  the  treaty  rights  of  the 

"  I  Thomas  Bun*  of  Hartford  aged  75  years,  testify  as  above  written,  that  I 
heard  my  Father  say  as  aforesaid,  and  allso  remember  said  Mun  when  he 
lived  in  Hartford  and  often  heard  my  Father  and  other  Pequot  soldiers  say 
that  said  Mun  was  a  soldier  in  said  war  with  them. 

Thomas  Burk." 


118  HARTFORD. 

Colony,  Hartford  supplied  seventeen,  while  of  the  six 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds  which  the  whole  war 
cost,  this  town  paid  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  pounds 
and  two  shillings.  Among  the  Hartford  citizens  par- 
ticularly distinguished  in  the  expedition,  were  Rev. 
Mr.  Hooker,  Rev.  Mr.  Stone,  Thomas  Stanton,  and 
Lieutenant  Bull. 

JMr.  Hooker  it  was  who — when  the  forces,  in  a  pink, 
in  IVIr.  Pynchon's  shallop,  in  a  pinnace  and  in  many 
Indian  canoes,  started  from  Hartford — here  on  the 
banks  of  our  River,  amid  weeping,  startled  wives  and 
children  and  kindred,  "  with  that  superior  piety,  spirit 
and  majesty  which  were  peculiar  to  him,  like  an  an- 
cient prophet"  addressed  the  soldiers — and  commend- 
ing them  warmly  to  divine  protection,  bade  them  "  in 
martial  power  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord  and  of 
his  people."  "  I  still  remember,"  says  Major  Mason, 
"  a  speech  of  Mr.  Hooker's  on  our  going  aboard — that 
they  [the  heathen  savages]  should  be  bread  for  us." 
"  Going,"  says  Roger  Wolcott  in  his  poetical  account 
of  the  Pequot  War — 

"  Going  on  board,  Oraculous  Hooker  said, 

Fear  not  the  foe,  they  shall  become  your  bread!" 

Mr.  Stone  it  was  who,  attending  the  soldiers  as 
chaplain,  kept  their  courage  ever  high  and  holy 
through  pious  mindfulness — who  went  to  pray  with 
them  as  they  sailed,  as  they  marched,  in  fatigue,  in 
pain,  and  during  the  perils  of  a  mortal  struggle.  He 
it  was  who  by  "  spending  most  of  one  Thursday 
night  in  prayer,"  seemed  to  solve  their  chief  and 
weighty  embarrassment  when  they  lay  at  Saybrook 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.  119 

wholly  uncertain  as  to  the  course  they  should  take. 
He  it  was  whose  supplication  that  Heaven  would  af- 
ford the  Expedition  some  sure  proof  of  the  fidelity  of 
the  accompanying  Indians,  was  so  fully  and  singular- 
ly answered  by  the  exploits  of  Uncas  and  his  party  in 
slaughtering  hostile  Pequots  on  their  way  through  the 
forests  to  Saybrook,  and  at  Bass  River.  Captain  Un- 
derbill refers  to  this  fact,  and  gives  some  of  the  lan- 
guage of  JVIr.  Stone's  pious  entreaty.  It  is  worth 
reading. 

"  Lying  aboard  the  vessel  with  my  boat,"  he  says,  "  the  minister, 
"  one  master  Stone,  that  was  sent  to  instruct  the  company,  was  then 

"  in  prayer  solemnly  before  God,  in  the  midst  of  the  soldiers. The 

"  hearts  of  all  in  general  being  much  perplexed,  fearing  the  infidelity 
"  of  these  Indians  [those  accompanying]  having  not  heard  what  an 
"  exploit  they  had  wrought,  it  pleased  God  to  put  into  the  heart  of 
"  master  Stone  this  passage  in  prayer,  while  myself  lay  under  the 
"  vessel  and  heard  it,  himself  not  knowing  that  God  had  sent  him  a 
"messenger  to  tell  him  his  prayer  was  granted — 0  Lord  God,  if  it 
"  he  thy  blessed  will,  vouchsafe  so  much  favor  to  thy  poor,  distressed 
"  servants  as  to  manifest  one  pledge  of  thy  love,  that  may  confirm  us  of 
"  the  fdelity  of  these  Indians  towards  us,  that  now  pretend  friendship 
"  and  service  to  us,  that  our  hearts  may  he  encouraged  the  more  in  this 
"  work  of  thine.  Immediately  myself  stepping  up,  told  him  that  God 
"  had  answered  his  desire,  and  that  I  had  brought  him  this  news,  that 
"  these  Indians  had  brought  in  five  Pequots  heads,  one  prisoner,  and 
"  wounded  one  mortally — which  did  much  encourage  the  hearts  of 
"  all,  and  replenish  them  exceedingly,  and  gave  them  all  occasion  to 
"  rejoice  and  be  thankiul  to  God." 

Mr.  Stanton  it  was  who,  as  Indian  Interpreter  as 
well  as  soldier,  parleyed  usefully  at  all  times,  and  es- 
pecially so  at  the  Casco  swamp  in  Fairfield,  when  he 
induced  two  hundred  of  the  old  men,  women  and 
children  of  the  Pequots  to  surrender  themselves.     He 


120  HARTFORD. 

subsequently  distinguished  himself  at  Pawcatuck  by 
shooting  an  Indian  murderer  through  both  thighs,  "  at 
such  a  vast  distance"  as  to  be  "  a  wonderment," 

Lieutenant  Bull  it  was  who,  after  Mason's  troops 
had  given  that  volley  in  upon  the  Pequot  Fort  which 
Captain  Underbill  admired  as  so  'complete'  that 
"  the  finger  of  God  seemed  to  have  touched  both  match 
and  fiint^''  and  when  the  Fort  was  in  flames,  pushed 
in  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his  own  life,  and  rescued 
the  wounded  soldier  Arthur  Smith  from  the  devour- 
ing element.  Brave  and  efficient  soldier  that  Bull 
was.  Providence  seems  to  have  taken  especial  care  of 
him — for  we  learn  that  a  hard  piece  of  cheese  which 
he  carried  in  his  pocket  diverted  an  Indian  arrow 
from  his  groin  and  saved  his  life,  the  Lieutenant,  says 
Major  Mason,  "  having  no  other  defence — which  may 
verify  the  old  saying,  that  a  little  armor  icould  serve  if 
a  man  knew  where  to  place  HP 

But  a  few  years  after  the  Pequot  War,  and  the  sup- 
posed plot  of  the  Narragansetts  to  confederate  the  In- 
dians generally  for  the  destruction  of  the  ^vhites,  re- 
newed the  alarm  in  Hartford  as  it  did  in  other  towns. 
The  means  of  defence  were  therefore  again  strength- 
ened. Fresh  ammunition,  new  cartridges,  new  pikes, 
and  forty  arrow-proof  coats  were  provided.  Forty 
men  were  to  remain  in  the  Town  for  its  defence,  and 
forty  '  compleat  in  arms'  were  to  attend  every  public 
religious  assembly.  The  Selectmen  and  Militia  Offi- 
cers were  charged  by  a  vote  of  the  Town  with  the 
duty  of  directing  persons,  in  case  of  any  alarm, 
where  to  repair  and  how  to  make  defence.  By  vote 
of  the   Town  also  the  watch  were  ordered  to  ring  a 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.  121 

bell  every  morning  before  day-break — "  to  begin  at 
the  Bridge,  and  so  ring  the  bell  all  the  way  forth  and 
back  from  Master  Moody's  (Wyllys  Hill)  to  John 
Pratts"  [near  the  present  Com-ant  office.]  One  per- 
son was  then  to  get  up  in  every  house,  and  show  a 
light  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  ringing  of 
the  bell,  or  at  least  half  an  hour  before  day-break,  on 
penalty,  for  any  failure,  of  thirteen  shillings  and  six- 
pence to  any  informer,  and  of  sixpence  to  the  Town. 

The  means  and  measures  of  defence  now  described 
curbed  the  savage,  and  kept  Hartford,  during  its  First 
Period,  safe.  The  Town  was  able  to  run  in  the  main 
a  prosperous  career.  Once  only,  and  this  immediate- 
ly after  the  Pequot  War,  does  it  appear  to  have  suf- 
fered at  all  from  want  of  any  of  the  necessaries  of 
life.  Then  there  was  a  temporary  scarcity  of  corn, 
and  for  the  reason  that  the  Settlers,  so  many  of  them, 
were  taken,  in  planting  time,  from  the  field  of  tillage 
to  the  field  of  blood.  This  scarcity,  however,  was 
soon  relieved  by  active  measures  on  the  part  of  the 
General  Court  to  procure  corn  from  up  the  River — 
and  the  scalp  of  Sassacus,  brought  hither  from  the 
Mohawks,  gave  assurance  of  the  death  of  Hartford's 
deadliest  foe,  and  left  its  inhabitants  to  pursue  in 
peace  their  agricultural  labors. 

What  a  sight  must  have  been  to  them  that  Scalp — 
the  bronzed,  shrivelled,  blood-stained  integument  of 
that  savage  head,  which,  with  method  and  with  mad- 
ness, had  plotted  more  mischief  and  wrought  out 
more  perils  for  the  whites,  than  the  brains  of  all  the 
Indians  of  New  England  besides  I 

Yet  did  Sassacus  do  aught  more,  aught  less,  than 
16 


122  HARTFORD. 

stick  to  his  tribe  ?  Hath  not  his  offence  '  this  extent — 
no  more  ?'  Identified  with  Pequot  power  and  pride, 
their  embodiment — the  fond,  watchful,  jealous  expo- 
nent of  its  sovereignty — "  lord  of  a  thousand  bow- 
men"— a  king — ought  he  not  by  every  contrivance,  at 
all  hazards,  to  have  protected  his  people — and  the 
more  so  as,  to  his  eye  at  least,  the  gi*een  leaves  of  his 
tribe's  prosperity  seemed  to  wither  under  the  basilisk 
of  the  white  man  ?  Is  patriotism  less  a  virtue  in  the 
Indian  than  in  the  Pale  Face  ?  Is  his  love  of  life 
and  home  and  liberty  less  natural,  less  strong — is  it  a 
mere  animal,  a  four-footed  love,  that  may  be  butch- 
ered, as  we  do  cattle,  for  meat  to  satiate  Anglo-Sax- 
on appetite  ?  On  the  other  hand,  shall  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  trusted  as  he  is  Avith  the  rich,  priceless  boon 
of  law,  liberty  and  religion,  pause  in  his  career  be- 
cause of  barbarian  opposition  ?  May  he  not  carry 
his  civilization  even  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  in  an 
extremity,  a  dark  and  dangerous  one,  and  for  a  preser- 
vation that  is  vital  ?  We  think  he  may,  and  so,  spite 
of  its  havoc,  spite  of  its  extermination,  exonerate  the 
Settlers  of  our  valley  from  all  blame  in  their  Pequot 
War.  The  Indian  must  fade  as  doth  the  leaf — must 
"pass  away  like  the  winged  breeze!"  Doth  he  not? 
Lo  and  answer  the  Setting  Sun !  It  is  his  fate, 
gloomy,  inexorable,  inscrutable — but  his  fate ! 

That  Scalp  of  Sassacus  however — what  became  of 
it?  Mr.  Ludlow  carried  a  lock  of  its  long,  black, 
wiry  hair  to  Boston,  "  as  a  rare  sight  and  a  sure  dem- 
onstration," to  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  "  of  the 
death  of  theu  mortal  enemy."  But  what  became 
of  the  rest  ?     Gone  with   Sassacus  himself,  and  with 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.  123 

his  tribe,  to  dust — perhaps,  as  too  black-boding  a 
trophy,  designedly  thrown  away — or  lost  and  wasted 
in  the  oblivious  peace  which  followed  its  acquisition. 
Would  it  were  here  though  now,  in  our  Historical 
Hall,  to  meet  the  curious  eye  !  It  would  be  a  grate- 
ful terror  at  this  day — darkly,  with  King  Philip's  War 
Club,  telling  of  dire  days  to  New  England,  and  me- 
morializing one  of  the  haughtiest  and  most  implaca- 
ble of  its  savage  foes !  What  a  royal  "  bugbear  for  a 
winter's  eve !"  Sc^eva. 


artf0rlr. 


ITS  LAND  POLICY— DOWN  TO  1650. 

No.  13. 

"A plot  set  down  for  fanners  quiet." 

Tusser''s  Husbandry. 

Soon  after  its  settlement,  Hartford  increased  its  ter- 
ritorial domain.  By  1639,  it  had  acquired  a  large  ex- 
tent of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  Connecticut  Riv- 
er, reaching  from  between  Windsor  on  the  north  and 
Wethersfield  on  the  south  three  miles  to  the  east- 
ward. The  particulars  of  this  acquisition  are  no- 
where given,  but  the  fact  is  conclusively  established 
by  an  order  of  the  Town,  dated  1640,  which  directs 
that  "  all  the  upland  of  the  east  side  of  the  Great 
River,  from  Podunk  River  to  Pewterpot  River,  shall 
be  divided  to  the  three-miles  end,  that  is  to  say,  half 
a-  mile  of  it  measured  and  staked,  and  each  man's 
proportion  to  run  up  the  country  to  the  thfee-miles 
end."  This  tract  embraces  nearly  that  of  present 
East  Hartford — a  fine  town  in  spite  of  its  sands — 
likely  child  of  a  likely  rnother — and  which  in  its  mod- 
ern independence,  forgets  not  church  or  state,  nor  to 
render  its  worthy  progenitor  its  annual  tribute  of  the 


126  HARTFORD. 

earliest  peas,  the  best  melons,  the  choicest  pop-corn, 
and  best  nectar-beer  of  the  region  round  about. 

It  will  be  remembered,  by  those  who  have  read  our 
previous  Articles,  that  lands  were  first  distributed  by 
the  Settlers  on  condition  that  they  should  be  im- 
proved, and  house-lots  on  condition  that  dwellings 
should  be  erected.  This  policy,  founded  in  a  desire 
to  stimulate  industry,  to  fix  inhabitants  to  the  soil, 
and  in  a  measure  to  insure  their  good  conduct,  was 
pursued  quite  steadily  during  the  period  under  consid- 
eration. Sometimes  we  find  it  relaxed  in  favor  of 
persons  rendering  some  essential  service  to  the  pub- 
lic— sometimes  in  case  of  those  who  gave  plausible 
reasons  for  its  violation,  and  who  expiated  their  de- 
fault by  the  payment  of  small  fines — but  generally 
lands  and  lots  were  forfeited  for  any  breaches  of  the 
fundamental  orders.  The  original  restraint  upon  their 
free  alienation  was,  1640,  modified  so  as  to  permit  all 
who  had  been  inhabitants  for  four  years  to  sell  as 
they  pleased — and  this  continued  till,  1651,  the  Gen- 
eral Court  reinstated  the  old  system,  by  which  the 
consent  of  the  Town  was  required  to  sales,  and  the 
Town  itself  to  be  preferred  as  a  purchaser. 

In  other  respects  the  Land  System  of  Hartford  was 
wise  and  liberal.  It  constantly,  as  occasions  arose 
either  by  the  accession  of  new  Settlers,  or  from  the 
increase*^  wants  of  the  old,  parcelled  out  its  unappro- 
priated lands  to  suit  the  demand.  It  provided,  at 
first  through  committees  annually  appointed  by  the 
Town,  and  subsequently  through  the  Selectmen,  for 
the  car.eful  superintendence  of  lands  which  remained 
under  the  common  charge — securing  them  from  dam« 


ITS    LAND    POLICY.  127 

age  by  swine  or  cattle — preserving  their  timber  by  the 
restraint  of  licenses  to  cut  and  carry  away — fencing 
them  where  required — and  occasionally  converting 
them  to  agricultural  use,  especially  where  necessity, 
"in  the  beginnings  wherein"  the  Settlers  were,  con- 
strained it.  Sometimes  it  made  donations  of  portions 
of  them,  in  consideration  of  ditching,  clearing,  or 
some  other  important  improvement,  and  sometimes 
bestowed  them  in  reward  of  public  service,  or  as  a 
boon  to  poor  and  honest  industry.  The  course  of  the 
Settlers  in  this  respect  was  just  and  enlightened.  Its 
large  fund  of  common  land  was  made  to  serve  the 
common  good.  The  knowledge  and  consent  of  all 
inhabitants  of  the  Town  were  essential  to  its  distri- 
bution. All  mistakes  in  its  allotment  were  rectified 
by  committees  appointed  for  the  purpose.  Each  man 
had  his  share  on  easy  terms,  and  it  was  his  own  fault 
if  he  did  not  work  his  agricultural  mine  to  his  own 
advantage. 

As  for  appropriated  lands,  these  were  all  to  be  re- 
corded, as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  state,  and 
to  be  bounded,  every  particular  parcel,  with  mere- 
stones,  and  so  were  to  be  recorded  bargains  and  mort- 
gages of  all  real  estate — a  simple,  cheap  and  effective 
policy,  which  assured  titles,  prevented  frauds,  and 
confirmed  the  rights  of  heirs,  legatees,  creditors,  and 
of  all  parties  in  interest.  The  Settlers — thanks  to 
their  good  sense  and  foresight — left  the  feudal  law, 
save  a  few  of  its  harmless  forms  and  phrases,  they 
left  it,  with  its  tedious,  costly  and  oppressive  intrica- 
cies, almost  wholly  behind  them.     More   thoughtful 


128  HARTFORD. 

than  the  Colonists  of  New  York,  Virginia,  the  Caro- 
linas  and  Georgia,  whose  jurisprudence  long  retained 
many  marked  traits  of  feudalism — not  yet  in  all  of 
them  entirely  obliterated — they  at  once,  with  their  sis- 
ter towns  both  in  Connecticut,  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island,  abrogated  in  practice  the  cumbrous 
legal  machinery  of  the  Old  World,  and  annihila- 
ted almost  every  vestige  of  its  law  of  tenures.  No 
knight  service  with  them  as  a  condition  of  holding 
lands !  None  of  the  oppressive  exactions  of  relief, 
wardship  and  marriage  I  No  right  of  primogeniture ! 
No  preference  of  males  in  the  title  by  descent !  No 
practice  of  subinfeudation  I  No  endless  and  involved 
restraints  on  alienation !  No  locking  up  of  real  es- 
tate Avithin  the  jaws  of  mortmain  and  entail  to  bury 
it  from  the  natural  wants  of  commerce,  and  the  just 
control  of  proprietors !  But  ownership  upon  the  de- 
fined, certain,  predial  and  pacific  services  of  free  and 
common  socage — ownership  subject  only  to  that  easy 
fealty,  and  those  equitable  rents  and  services,  which 
do  but  compensate  for  its  protection,  and  support  the 
just  authority  of  the  Public — ownership  that  is  sub- 
servient to  the  purposes  of  business,  that  is  in  the 
main  alienable  at  the  will  of  the  owner,  that  may 
be  taken  and  sold  for  debt,  that  passes  to  children 
equally  by  inheritance — vital  ownership  in  fee  simple, 
by  allodial  title,  by  the  gi-asp  of  an  absolute  and  di- 
rect property  and  dominion — such  was  the  simple, 
complete,  inspiring  interest  which  a  Hartford  Settler 
had  in  his  lands.  Save  in  the  idea  that  he  held  under 
an  ultimate  superior  authority,  with  certain  corres- 
ponding obligations   on   his  own  part,  his  possession 


ITS    LAND    POLICY.  129 

was  free  as  air.  And  this  superior  authority  was,  cu- 
riously enough,  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  Hart- 
ford, not  even  King  Charles  the  First,  nor  the  Protect- 
ors Cromwell — for  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  incar- 
nation of  old  England's  sovereignty  never  passed  the 
lips  of  a  Hartford  Settler  till  after  the  Charter  of 
1662  was  granted — but  the  authority  in  question  was 
the  People,  that  new  republican  supremacy  which  a 
noble  patriotism  substituted,  amid  the  wild  woods  of 
a  new  continent,  for  monarchy,  tyranny  and  foUy 
across  the  seas — that  grand  power  on  Avhich  true  lib- 
erty ever  leans  in  securest  repose,  which  it  should  de- 
voutly seek  ever  to  cherish,  and  in  a  sweet,  solemn 
sense  of  loyalty  love  ever  to  revere.  Good  for  old 
Hartford!  Sceva.. 

17 


|jiirtfi}rh 


ITS  STOIPTUARY  POLICY— DOWN  TO  1G50, 

No.  14. 

"And  they  fixed  the  prices  thereof."  Anon. 

"  The  apparel  oft  denotes  the  man."  Hamlet. 

"  Nay  oft,  in  (h-eams,  invention  ive  bestow 
To  change  a  flounce,  or  add  a  furbelow." 

Pope. 

In  the  age  upon  which  we  dwell,  Sumptuary  Laws, 
restraining  by  checks  more  or  less  severe  extrava- 
gance in  dress,  furniture,  food  and  private  expenditure 
generally,  and  laws  regulating  the  prices  of  commod- 
ities and  of  labor,  existed  in  nearly  every  civilized 
government,  and  were  deemed  essential  parts  of  a 
true  political  economy.  The  evils  of  luxury,  the  ef- 
feminacies and  wastefulness  supposed  to  be  engen- 
dered by  wealth,  the  fundamental  importance  of  fru- 
gality to  a  State,  the  impositions  often  involved  in 
large  prices,  these  circumstances,  together  with  the 
notion  derived  from  the  classical  ages,  that  simple 
habits  of  living  were  essential  to  the  preservation  of 
true  heroism  and  patriotism,  to  the  growth  of  all  the 
hardy  virtues  of  a  primitive  golden  age,  made  it  the 


132  HARTFORD. 

prominent  doctrine  of  the  day,  that  freedom  in  proper- 
ty and  labor  were  inconsistent  with  a  sound  and  en- 
lightened civil  liberty.  Spirits  of  Horace,  Juvenal 
and  Sallust,  Shade  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  what  a 
legacy  in  this  respect  did  ye  leave  the  world !  It  was 
the  doctrine  not  alone  of  courts  and  monarchies,  but 
of  democracies — not  alone  of  England,  and  France, 
and  Sweden,  and  of  other  Em-opean  governments, 
but  also  of  every  American  Colony.  It  has  taken 
centuries  to  overthrow  it — centuries  to  establish  the 
freedom  of  industry,  and  that  just  and  liberal  doctrine 
which,  in  the  language  of  Adam  Smith,  makes  it  "  an 
act  of  the  highest  impertinence  and  presumption  for 
kings  and  rulers  to  pretend  to  watch  over  the  econo- 
my and  expenditure  of  private  persons."  It  was  not 
until  late  as  1824,  that  in  England  the  last  traces  of 
interference  with  the  rights  of  operative  industry  were 
swept  from  the  British  Statute  Books.  Late  as  1777, 
a  Committee  of  our  own  American  Congress  recom- 
mended the  several  States  to  regulate  by  law  the 
price  of  labor,  manufactures,  and  internal  produce, 
and  the  charges  of  innholders.  Following  up  this 
suggestion,  late  as  1778,  acts  of  the  Legislatures 
of  New  Yoj"k,  Connecticut,  and  probably  of  other 
States,  limited  the  price  of  labor  and  its  products, 
and  tavern  charges,  and  prices  in  inns  were  still,  late 
as  1836,  fixed  by  law  in  New  Jersey  and  Alabama. 

Our  Readers,  therefore,  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  the  Hartford  Settlers,  sharing  the  views  of  the 
day,  dealt  in  sumptuary  legislation.  "Ordered,"  1641, 
says  the   General   Court,  in  which  Hartford  then  had 


ITS    SUMPTUARY    POLICY.  133 

the  chief  influence,  in  view  of  "  excess  in  apparel,  by 
divers  persons  of  several  ranks,  ordered  that  the  Con- 
stables of  every  Town  within  these  Liberties,  shall 
observe  and  take  notice  of  any  particular  person  or 
persons  within  their  several  limits,  and  all  such  as 
they  judge  to  exceed  their  condition  therein  [to  wit,  in 
apparel]  they  shall  present  and  warn  to  appear  at  the 
Particular  Court — and  the  said  Court  hath  power  to 
censure  any  disorder  in  the  particulars  before  men- 
tioned." 

Strange — is  it  not  ?  To  walk  about  with  your 
dress  each  moment  subject  to  the  espionage  of  a 
Constable — in  dread  each  minute  of  being  summoned 
to  receive  a  grave,  frowning  rebuke,  in  a  public  Court 
Room,  from  the  lips  of  the  highest  judges  of  the 
land — think  of  it!  Yet  the  principle  of  this  order  is 
the  same  with  that  of  many  which  have  issued  from 
kings  of  England  against  short  doublets  and  long 
coats — the  same  with  that  of  Henry  Fourth's  procla- 
mation, that  no  man  should  wear  shoes  above  six 
inches  broad  at  the  toes  because  ^'■pride  had  g;ot  so 
7nuch  into  the  foot.'''  It  is  the  same  with  that  of 
Queen  Bess's  regulation  of  the  apparel  of  appren- 
tices, and  of  the  dress,  and  hair,  and  beards  of  her 
lawyers — the  same  with  that  of  the  admonition,  in 
James  the  First's  time,  to  the  students  of  Oxford, 
against  the  '  fearful  enormities'  of  peccadilloes,  vast 
bands,  huge  ruffs,  shoe-roses,  and  tufts,  locks  and 
tops  of  hair,  as  "  unbeseeming  their  modesty  and  car- 
riage." It  is  the  same  with  that  of  thousands  of 
laws,  from  the  time  when  the  old  Locrian  legislator 
Zaleucus  ordained  that  no  woman  should  go  attended 


134  HARTFORD. 

with  more  than  one  maid  in  the    street,  ^unless  she 
was  drunk,''  down  to  the  present  day. 

Yet  what  upon  earth  had  the  Settlers  of  Hartford, 
a  plain  people — in  garments,  as  one  supposes,  usually 
of  serge,  and  kersey,  and  cotton  and  hemp,  of  a  dark 
and  sober  hue — with  scarcely  more  of  means  than 
they  plucked  day  by  day,  with  hard  toil,  from  the 
jaws  of  a  wilderness — what  had  they  to  do  with  any 
"  excess  in  apparelling  ?"  Not  to  their  men  certainly 
belonged 

"  The  spangled  garters  worth  a  copyhold, 

Nor  hose  and  doublet  which  a  lordship  cost, 

Nor  a  gaudy  cloak  three  manors  worth  almost. 

Nor  a  beaver  band  and  feather  for  the  head 

Prised  at  the  church's  tithe — the  poor  man's  bread." 

Nor  to  their  women  seemingly  could  it  befall  to  be 
fanned  'with  the  soft  wind  of  whispering  silks,'  to 
rustle  in  spangles,  furbelows  and  flounces,  or  to  move 
in  bulky  petticoats  of  tafFety  surmounted  with  velvet 
kirtles,  or  in  dresses  furred  with  ermine,  or  with  bugle- 
embroidered  capes  of  lace.  Fugitives,  and  Puritan 
fugitives  too,  all  of  them,  from  a  land  of  pomp  and 
vanities — who  could  not  bear  the  low-crowned  Flem- 
ish beaver,  or  Naples  hat,  and  the  Savoy  chain  or  Mi- 
lan sword,  or  ruff  and  cuff  of  Flanders,  or  the  "  cloak 
of  Geneva  with  Brabant  buttons  set" — to  whom  far- 
dingales,  and  scented  lovelocks,  and  patches  of  court 
plaster  bewitchingly  laid  on,  and  perfumed  rings 
and  necklaces,  and  lotions  and  unguents,  and  gloves 
'  breathing  an  air  as  sweet  as  damask  roses,'  were  an 
abomination — why  should  such  a  people  find  it  so 
soon  necessary  among  themselves,  in  their  new  and 


ITS    SUMPTUARY    POLICY.  135 

straitened  circumstances,  to  lay  the  strong  hand  of 
the  law  on  dress  ?  Were  silk  stockings,  or  birds-eye 
hoods,  too  much  in  vogue  ?  Were  shoes  too  enor- 
mously high-heeled?  Had  any  rich,  tenuous  lawns 
or  muslins  stolen  into  the  settlement  to  furnish  caps, 
'  with  silver  curlings,  white  as  snow  ?'  Did  ointment 
and  perfume  begin  'to  rejoice  the  heart?'  Did  the 
ladies,  for  dressing  too  low,  begin  to  require  the  non- 
conformist's'just  and  seasonable  reprehension  ?'  Or 
were  the  falling  collars  of  the  men  too  nicely  pointed 
with  lace,  their  cuffs  too  elaborate,  their  hose  too  gay- 
colored,  their  shoe-roses  too  trim  with  ribbons  ?  Did 
their 

"  High-crowned  hats,  with  a  widish  brim, 
Tied  all  around  with  a  wrinkled  string," 

become  too  low,  or  steal  a  gracefully  drooping  feather 
or  so  from  the  plume  of  the  Cavalier  ? 

Some,  probably  several  of  the  causes  now  suggest- 
ed, combined  to  draw  down  upon  the  lovers  of  dress, 
in  the  first  years  of  Hartford,  the  restraining  law  to 
which  we  have  referred.  A  strange  law  to  us — yet 
excusably  so !  But  what  were  its  effects  ?  Here  his- 
tory is  silent.  We'll  venture  the  opinion,  however, 
that  it  never  was  enforced  with  much  strictness.  In 
spite  of  any  denunciations  from  the  Com-ts,  the  pul- 
pit, or  the  grave  social  cii'cle,  spite  of  the  fact  that 
proverbially  no  Cromwellite  could  bear  silks  and  sat- 
ins, and  spite  of  the  Constables,  we  have  no  doubt 
that  all  who  wanted  to  dress  handsomely  did  so  to 
the  extent  of  their  means — not  eschewing  ornaments, 
when  they  could  get  them,  nor  deeming  even  a  little 


136  HARTFORD. 

finery  irreligious — and  feeling  all  the  better  and  the 
merrier  the  while,  in  their  loves  and  their  friendships, 
for  the  reason  that  they  could  note  and  talk  a  little 
about  some  innocent  embellishment  of  attire,  or  some 
pretty  trinket,  or  of  even  the  flowing  ringlets,  and 
slashed  doublets,  and  white-laced  waistcoats,  and 
crimson  short-petticoats,  and  hair  a  la  neg-lig-etice,  of 
the  cavaliers  and  dames  of  the  Court  across  the  At- 
lantic. The  love  of  dress  is  innate,  and  fashion  in 
this  respect,  always  grasping  at  display,  is  more  om- 
nipotent than  law.  How  much  of  elegance  and  rich- 
ness, of  ruffling  and  costly  embroidery,  do  we  not  see 
in  the  costumes  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  early  days  of  Connecticut ! 

But  now  as  regards  labor.  About  this,  Hartford 
very  early  passed  an  act  regulating  its  price.  The 
wages  of  the  ordinary  day-laborer  varied,  according 
to  the  season  and  his  ability,  from  eighteen  pence  to 
two  shillings  and  sixpence  a  day.  He  was  to  work 
eleven  hours  in  the  summer  and  nine  in  the  winter. 
The  labor  of  cattle  varied,  according  to  their  good- 
ness and  the  season,  from  fourteen  to  eighteen  pence 
the  pair  a  day,  and  for  the  use  of  a  cart  from  three 
pence  to  sixpence  a  day  was  to  be  paid.  'Also,' 
says  a  vote  of  the  town — 

"  No  man  shall  take  above  4s.  6p.  foi-  sawing  of  boai'ds,  and  5s.  Gp. 
"  for  slitwork,  the  timber  being  squared  and  laid  at  the  pit ;  nor 
"  above  8p.  a  C.  for  riving  six  foot  poles  or  clapboard,  and  6p.  a  C. 
"  for  three  foot :  nor  above  7s.  for  boards,  and  2s.  Gp.  for  three  foot 
"  clapboards :  and  whosoever  gives  or  takes  more,  directly  or  indi- 
"  rectly  shall  forfeit  for  every  time  5s." 


ITS    SUMPTUARY    POLICY.  137 

It  was  also  ordered  that  the  Townsmen  should  set- 
tle, through  arbitration,  any  difficulties,  involving  op- 
pression, which  might  arise  in  any  labor  contracts  of 
importance,  and  that  they  should  fine,  according  to 
the  offence,  every  person  who  sold  any  commodity, 
and  took  "  unreasonable  fair  or  work  in  men's  necessi- 
ty."    To  the  Town  regulations  now  stated,  and  bear- 
ing of  course  directly  on  the  Town,  were  added  regu- 
lations of  the  same  character  by  the   General  Court. 
The  last  were  from  time  to  time  repealed,  in  the  hope 
that  in  the  matters  they  concerned  "  men  would  have 
been  a  law  unto  themselves" — a  glimmer  here  of  true 
political  economy — but  were  reinstated  when   'little 
reformation'  was  found  '  therein,'  and  wages  were  in 
excess.     By  these  regulations,  carpenters,  plowwrits, 
wheelwi-ights,   masons,   joiners,    smiths,    coopers    and 
mowers,    were    to    receive    according   to    the    season, ' 
working  eleven  hours  in  the  summer  and  nine  in  the 
winter,  from  eighteen  to  twenty  pence  per  day — and 
all  other  artificers,  and  handicraftsmen  and  chief  la- 
borers, from  fourteen  to  eighteen  pence  a  day,  and  in 
proportion  for  parts  of  a  day.     Sawyers  were  to  re- 
ceive four  shillings  and  sixpence  for  slit-work  or  three 
inch  plank — three  shillings  and  sixpence  for  boards  by 
the  hundred — and  boards  were  not  to  be  sold  for  more 
than  five  shillings   and  sixpence  the  hundred.     From 
four  shillings  to  four  and  sixpence  a  day  were  to  be 
charged  for  "  four  of  the  better  sort  of  oxen  or  horses 
with  their  tackling,"  more  being  allowed  for  breaking 
up  upland  ground  than  any  other,  and  the  penalty  for 
disobedience  of  any  of  the  above  orders  was,  the  Cen- 
18 


138  HARTFORD. 

sure  of  the  Court — a  penalty  too  grave  and  impres- 
sive in  former  times  to  be  easily  disregarded. 

Thus  in  the  early  days  of  Hartford  was  labor  regu- 
lated, and  to  some  extent  the  prices  of  commodi'ties. 
Unsound  as  we  know  this  policy  to  be,  it  is  yet  wor- 
thy of  remark  that  the  Hartford  Settlers  ameliorated 
it  much,  in  comparison  with  their  cotemporaries  in 
England.  With  the  latter  a  precise  and  stringent 
Statute  for  Laborers,  passed  early  as  1349,  and  re- 
peatedly confirmed  by  successive  Parliaments,  had  for 
more  than  three  centuries  borne  oppressively  upon  all 
branches  of  industry.  With  the  former  a  few  laws, 
not  severe  in  their  character,  not  formidable  in  their 
penalties,  and  intermitted  in  their  execution,  bore 
only  upon  a  part  of  labor.  With  the  latter  the  Proc- 
lamations of  Justices  every  Easter  and  Michaelmas, 
backed  by  the  whole  civil  authority  of  the  realm,  left 
a  tyrannous  discretion  over  labor  in  the  hands  of  a 
few.  With  the  former  such  regulation  of  labor  as 
did  exist,  emanated  from  the  people,  and  left  no  dis- 
cretion in  fickle  hands.  With  the  latter  not  only  the 
prices  of  all  commodities  were  generally  fixed,  but 
even  the  food  and  the  clothing  of  laborers,  what  they 
should  eat  and  wherewithal  they  should  be  clad,  were 
determined  by  law.  With  the  former  -a  low  price 
was  established  for  but  a  few  commodities,  and  there 
never  was  a  particle  of  interference  with  food,  or  with 
raiment,  save  to  check  its  "  excess" — had  there  been, 
the  republican  stomach  of  the  Town  would  at  once, 
we  believe,  have  burst  out  in  rebellion.  With  the  lat- 
ter it  was  a  frequent  provision  that  if  any  unem- 
ployed person  refused  to  work  at  the  established  rates, 


ITS    SUMPTUARY    POLICY.  139 

he  might  be  imprisoned.  With  the  former  no  such 
despotic  rule  ever  found  a  place.  The  Hartford  Set- 
tlers then,  it  is  apparent,  were,  in  respect  to  the  policy 
now  under  consideration,  far  in  advance  of  their 
mother  country.  Source  of  a  just  pride  is  this !  But 
at  the  same  time  they  were  much  behind  the  views  of 
the  present  day.  They  had  not  yet,  though  they  had 
some  perceptions  of  it,  not  yet  learned  the  fundamen- 
tal rule  that  no  legislation  can  advantageously  fix 
either  the  minimum  or  the  maximum  of  wages — that 
no  employer  can  give  more,  and  no  workman  take 
less,  than  he  can  afford  without  impoverishment — ^that 
the  interests  of  each,  without  any  combinations  by 
either  to  raise  or  depress  prices,  should  be  left  to  fur- 
nish the  standard  of  emolument — that,  in  short,  the 
price  of  Labor,  as  well  as  of  commodities  generally, 
is  to  be  regulated  by  the  natural,  wise  Law  of  Supply 
and  Demand.  Sc^va. 


artf0rlr. 


ITS  AGRICULTURE— DOWN  TO  1650. 

No.  15. 

"  Good  farme  and  well  stored,  good  housing  and  drie, 
Good  corne  and  good  dairy,  good  market  and  rie, 
Good  shepherd,  good  tUlman,  good  Jacke  and  good  GUI, 
Makes  husband  and  huswife  their  coffers  to  fill." 

Tu3ser''s  Husbandry, 

Agriculture,  at  the  time  when  Hartford  was  set- 
tled, had  made  considerable  progress  in  England. 
For  about  a  century  it  had  been  studied  as  a  science. 
Authors  like  Fitzherbert,  Tusser,  Sir  Hugh  Piatt,  and 
Sir  Richard  Weston,  had  contributed  quite  profound- 
ly to  its  elucidation.  Its  principal  grains,  grasses, 
and  roots,  except  clover,  the  potatoe  and  the  tur- 
nip, were  known  and  cultivated.  Agricultural  imple- 
ments, though  vastly  improved  since,  were  quite  vari- 
ous. The  plow,  the  hoe,  the  spade,  the  shovel,  the 
fork,  the  wain,  the  wheelbarrow,  the  hack  for  break- 
ing clods,  the  clotting  beetle,  the  weeding  nippers,  the 
scythe,  the  vine  and  pruning  knife,  the  hammer  with 
the  file  and  chisel,  and  other  grafting  instruments, 
were  all  in  use.  The  domestic  animals  were  known 
and  carefully  bred.  Tillage  was  practised  with  much 
skill.     Horticulture  had  become  an  art.     The  system 


142 


HARTFORD. 


of  enclosures,  drainage  and  manures  was  applied,  and 
many  important  principles  of  agricultural  chemistry 
were  well  understood. 

The  Hartford  Settlers  brought  with  them,  of  course, 
the  agi'icultural  knowledge  of  the  Old  Country — its 
plants,  its  fruit  trees,  its  animals,  its  implements,  its 
experience.  They  had  however  at  first  but  few  plows, 
and  '  fell'  consequently  to  tearing  up  the  bushy  lands, 
in  Indian  style,  with  their  hands  and  with  their  hoes. 
But  they  had  carts  and  teams  both  of  oxen  and  of 
horses,  the  former  being  used  by  the  pair,  or  pairs, 
but  sometimes  three  only.  To  the  plants  which  they 
brought  from  England  they  added  the  cviltivation  of 
many  peculiar  to  the  New  World,  particularly  Indian 
Corn,  that  noble  vegetable,  which,  according  to  abo- 
riginal tradition,  the  sacred  blackbird  first  brought  in- 
to New  England.*  How  many  mouths  has  it  fed — 
how  many  doth  it  continue  to  feed — how  many  car- 
casses fattened,  both  of  man  and  beast,  and  its  an- 
nual heap  of  five  hundred  millions  of  bushels  in  our 
country  no^v  how  colossal !  '  Mercies'  indeed  were 
its  meal  pottage  unparched,  and  its  milk  or  butter 
samp  to  the  Hartford  Settlers,  "  mercies  beyond  the 
natives  plain  \vater,  and  dishes  exceedingly  whole- 
some to  English  bodies !"  And  they  enjoyed  them, 
most  of  the  time,  to  the  extent  of  their  wants,  for  the 
natural  increase  of  corn  is  great — "  the  Lord  did  miti- 

*  Hear  Benjamin  Tomson,  the  first  native  poet  of  America,  describe  it,  as 
it  soothed  Indian  appetite ! 

*        *        *        *      "  The  dainty  Indian  maize 
TTas  eat  with  clamp  shells  out  of  wooden  trayes, 
Under  thatch'd  hutts  without  the  cry  of  rent, 
And  the  best  sawce  to  every  dish,  content." 


ITS     AGRICULTURE.  143 

gate  their  labors  in  planting  it  by  reason  of  the  Indi- 
an's frequent  fireing  of  the  fields" — and  with  the  ex- 
ception only  of  two  or  three  years,  their  upland  and 
valleys,  then  as  now,  laughed  abundantly  with  the 
rich,  ripe  crop. 

Besides  this  vegetable  the  Settlers  had  wheat,  which 
though  with  them  as  with  us  subject  to  the  blast,  was 
yet  in  such  abundance  that  "  good  white  and  wheaten 
bread  was  no  rarity,  but  every  ordinary  man  had  his 
choice  of  it,  if  gay  clothing  and  a  liquorish  tooth 
after  sack,  sugar  and  plums,  did  not  lick  it  away  too 
fast."  They  had  also  barley,  rye,  oats  and  pease. 
Of  beans,  the  contribution,  according  to  the  Indians, 
of  the  crow  to  agi'iculture,  they  had  a  great  variety, 
white,  black,  red,  yellow,  blue  and  spotted.  They 
had  tobacco,  that  sovereign  plant,  whose  virtues,  in 
the  received  opinion  of  the  day,  were  that  it  helped 
digestion,  the  gout  and  toothache,  prevented  infection 
by  scents,  "  heated  the  cold,  cooled  them  that  sweat, 
fed  the  hungry,  spent  spirits  restored,  purged  the 
stomach,  and  besides  killed  nits  and  lice."  Cured 
with  molasses  and  rum  it  was  pronounced  "  very  pal- 
atable." To  encourage  its  growth,  a  law  for  some- 
time forbade  the  use  of  any  for  "  di-ink,"  that  is  for 
smoking,  except  what  was  grown  within  the  liberties 
of  Connecticut,  under  a  penalty  of  five  shillings. 
And  yet,  "  forasmuch  as  it  was  observed  that  many 
abuses  were  committed  by  the  frequent  taking"  of  it, 
it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court,  1647,  that  no 
person  under  the  age  of  twenty  years,  nor  any  other 
that  had  not  already  accustomed  himself  to  the  use 
thereof,  should  take  any  tobacco  without  license  from 


144 


HARTFORD. 


the  Court,  and  a  certificate  of  its  usefulness  in  the 
particular  case,  under  the  hand  of  some  one  approved 
for  knowledge  and  skill  in  physic — and  then  he  was 
not  to  take  it  "  publiquely  in  the  street,"  nor  in  the 
fields,  or  woods,  unless  on  a  journey  of  at  least  ten 
miles,  or  unless  at  that  "  ordinary  tyme  of  repast  corn- 
only  called  dynner."  Nor  was  he  to  take  it  "  above 
once  in  the  day  at  most,  and  then  not  in  company 
with  any  other" — nor  could  any  one  using  tobacco 
take  it  in  the  society  of  more  than  one  who  also  used 
it.  Lovers  of  the  '  weed '  were  thus  limited  by  law  to 
squads  of  two,  and  there  was  a  penalty  of  sixpence 
for  each  offence  against  the  above  orders,  "  in  any  of 
the  particulars  thereof,  to  be  paid  without  gainsaying, 
upon  conviction  by  the  testimony  of  one  witness 
before  any  Magistrate,"  and  the  Constables  were 
requii'ed  to  make  presentment  of  all  transgressors. 
Soul  of  Pocahontas,  Shade  of  John  Nicot,  Ghost  of 
Ralph  Lane,  Spirit  of  Sk  Walter  Raleigh,  Pocket  of 
Virginia,  Custom  Houses  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
world,  what  a  law!  Brain  of  Scaeva,  that  under  the 
gentle,  genial  soothings  of  the  'weed'  inditeth  this 
and  all  thine  Ai-ticles  on  the  olden  time  of  Hartford, 
how  would  thy  thought-engendering  pulses  cease 
to  beat,  if  each  quid  of  the  Nicotiana  Tabacum  was 
a  grave  transgression  of  law,  to  be  appalled  by  the 
Constable,  and  to  cost  thee  a  "  sixpence ! " 

The  Settlers  also  had  hemp  and  flax.  With  the  for- 
mer plant  they  took  particular  pains.  Long  known  to 
the  Aborigines,  and  by  them  used  for  making  lines 
and  nets,  it  became  essential  to  the  Settlers  not  only 
for  the  same  purposes,  but  also  for  clothing  and  the 


ITS    AGRICULTURE.  145 

sails  and  cordage  of  their  vessels.  Early  as  1640,  it 
and  its  sister  flax,  received  the  particular  attention  of 
the  General  Court,  and  a  law  was  passed  compelling 
their  cultivation.  Every  family,  that  year,  was  to 
plant  one  spoonful  of  English  hempseed,  in  some 
jQruitful  soil,  "  at  least  a '  foot  distant  betwixt  every 
seed,  and  the  same  so  planted  to  preserve  and  keep  in 
a  husbandly  manner  for  supply  of  seed  for  another 
year."  The  second  year  every  family  keeping  a  team 
was  to  sow  at  least  one  rood  of  hemp  or  flax,  and 
every  person  keeping  any  cattle  was  to  sow  twenty 
perches,  and  every  family,  though  keeping  no  cattle, 
was  to  sow  ten  perches,  and  to  provide  at  least  half  a 
pound  of  hemp  or  flax,  or  in  default  thereof  to  under- 
go the  censure  of  the  Court.  And  again,  in  1641, 
there  being  some  difficulty  in  procuring  hemp  seed,  it 
was  ordered  that  such  persons  as  had  more  than  the 
quantity  of  a  spoonful,  and  who  refused  to  sell  to 
those  w^ho  were  unprovided,  should  plant  the  more 
themselves.  Thus  were  two  plants,  tw^o  of  the  high- 
est importance  to  the  clothing  arts,  early  introduced 
into  Hartford.  The  deep  and  friable  loams  of  our 
meadow  lands  were  very  favorable  to  then-  growth, 
and  then-  culture  and  management  were  probably  as 
well  understood  here  as  at  that  time  in  England. 
The  rippling  of  the  flax,  the  management  of  its  cap- 
sules, the  separation  of  the  seed,  and  the  separation 
of  the  fibre  from  the  bark,  and  the  watering,  bleach- 
ing and  grassing  of  hemp,  were  all  processes  with 
which  the  Settlers  were  familiar,  and  they  were  soon 
able  in  these  ways,  and  with  good  crops,  to  supply 
themselves,  to  quite  a  large  extent,  with  cloth,  and 
19 


146  HARTFORD. 

nets,  and  sails  and  cordage.  Fortunate  were  they  in 
coming  to  lands  so  fruitful,  which  opened  so  cheerful- 
ly to  receive  seeds  the  most  useful,  and  to  convert 
them  by  the  kind  and  magic  benevolence  of  nature 
into  the  necessaries  of  life  I 

Garden  vegetables  the  Settlers  had  in  good  variety, 
among  others  particularly  the  vine-apple  or  squash,  of 
several  colors,  which  made  '  a  sweet,  light,  wholesome 
refreshing' — and  radishes  '  big  as  a  man's  arm' — and 
pumpkins,  which,  says  Johnson  in  his  Wonder- Work- 
ing Providence,  "let  no  man  make  a  jest  at,  for  with 
this  fruit  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  feed  his  people  to 
their  good  content,  till  Corn  and  Cattell  were  in- 
creased." Of  pear  and  apple  trees,  particularly  of 
the  last,  they  had  a  plenty.  Orchards  '  prospered 
abundantly.'  One  Apple  Tree,  from  which  some  of 
their  own  hands  plucked  fruit,  still  survives,  gnarled 
and  hoary  with  age,  to  tell  of  two  hundred  and  four- 
teen years  ago !  It  is  upon  the  premises  known  as 
the  Charter  Oak  Place,  and  its  portrait,  taken  at  our 
request  by  George  Flagg  Esq.,  of  New  York,  may  be 
seen  on  Smith's  recent  map  of  the  City.  Though 
tottering  it  yet  has  strength — trembling  at  once  with 
energy  and  age.  New  but  vigorous  branches,  amid  a 
few  withered  hands  that  still  stretch  out,  continue  to 
shoot  from  its  dilapidated  trunk,  as  if  it  hated  yet  to 
yield  its  life,  and  clung,  monument  and  memorializer 
of  the  sturdy  hands  that  planted  it,  to  the  soil  in 
which  its  roots  were  first  sunk.  It  still  yields  its  an- 
nual tribute  of  a  few  apples,  the  English  Pearmain. 
Its  proprietor  very  kindly  gives  us  two  or  three  each 
year.     We  eat  them  with  intense  satisfaction !     They 


ITS    AGRICULTURE.  147 

feed  the  nerves  and  glands  of  onr  appetite  as  amply, 
and  thrillingly,  as  if  they  came  straight  down  from 
Eve's  own  witch  of  an  apple  tree  in  the  garden  of 
Eden  I  Who,  on  looking  at  the  venerable  relic  which 
yields  them,  would  not  exclaim  with  the  writer,  in 
fond  respect — 

"  Then  with  eternal  greenness  on  thy  fonn, 

Stand  thou  forever  there  to  battle  with  the  storm !" 

Besides  garden  vegetables  the  Settlers  had  many 
garden  fruits — as  the  cherry,  plum  and  quince,  the 
water  melon,  a  fruit  proper  to  the  country,  grapes,  of 
which  they  made  good  wine,  and  strawberries,  a  fruit 
of  itself  so  excellent  that  "  one  of  the  chiefest  doctors 
of  England,"  says  Roger  Williams,  "was  wont  to 
say  that  God  could  have  made,  but  never  did  make  a 
better  berry."  Oh  for  a  piece,  just  now,  of  that 
strawberry-bread,  with  which,  after  the  fruit  was 
pounded  in  a  mortar,  and  mixed  with  meal  and 
cream,  and  baked,  the  Hartford  Settlers  used  to  re- 
gale themselves  I  Flanked  with  some  of  that  mar- 
malade, and  those  preserved  damsons,  and  those 
pumpkin  tarts,  which  were  '  to  be  found  in  every 
house,'  where  could  one  get  now-a-days  a  more 
tempting  confection  ?  And  then  with  a  Puritan 
father  to  say  grace,  and  a  Puritan  mother  with  her 
'  bairns'  to  flavor  the  meal,  and  among  them  a  Puri- 
tan Jenny,  '  woman  grown,' 

"In  youthfu'  bloom,  love  sparkling  in  her  e'e," 

to  help  you  eat  it,  and  keep  your  heart  all  the  while 
in  harmonious  titillation  with  your  tongue !     What  a 


148  HARTFORD. 

confection,  a  soft  electuary  of  moral  as  well  as  physi- 
cal sweetness  this  would  be  I  We  think  we  could  en- 
dure it — possibly — that  is  to  say  we  could  were  we 
not  a  married  ^nan !     But  now  to  us, 

"  Upon  his  wing  of  golden  liglit, 
Cupid  has  passed  witli  an  eaglet's  flight, 
And,  flitting  on,  doth  seem  to  say. 
Fare  thee  well,  thou'st  had  thy  day !" 

But  to  return.  We  have  said  nothing  as  yet  about 
the  domestic  animals  of  the  Settlers,  and  these,  as  is 
familiar,  play  a  very  important  part  in  agriculture. 
They  did  in  the  early  agriculture  of  our  town.  Be- 
sides oxen  the  Settlers  had  cows,  of  course — most  of 
the  time  enough — and  they  took  much  pains  to  im- 
prove the  breed  of  their  cattle,  for  we  find  committees 
often  appointed,  and  by  the  Town,  'to  view  Bull- 
calves,  and  have  them  kept  for  Bulls,'  and  of  these 
only  '  such  as  had  liberty  from  the  townsmen,'  were 
'  to  go  into  the  herds.'  All  cattle  were  carefully  ear- 
marked with  all  manner  of  crops  and  slits,  and  thus 
bearing  the  distinguishing  marks  of  proprietorship, 
they  fed,  doubtless  with  great  satisfaction,  on  the  vii*- 
gin  grass  of  our  valley,  and  lowed  their  complaints 
and  their  affections  both  in  numbers  and  in  blood 
highly  respectable  for  the  times.  They  were  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  families  of  goats — "  he  was 
accounted  nobody  that  had  not  a  trip  or  flock  of 
these" — and  by  families  of  sheep,  of  which  there  was 
'  a  good  store' — and  as  for  hogs,  judging  from  the  fre- 
quent mention  made  of  these  in  town  legislation,  one 
would  almost  think  their  name  was  Legion.     These 


ITS    AGRICULTURE.  149 

unruly  and  perverse  yet  indispensable  creatures,  that 
have  no  sense  certainly  of  cleanliness,  and  not  much 
sense  of  any  other  kind,  that  are  continually  running 
their  noses  into  every  body's  business,  and  are  prover- 
bially headstrong,  were  seldom  allowed  the  privilege 
of  wandering  unless  with  rings  in  their  snouts,  and  a 
malefactor's  yoke  upon  theit  necks.  Such  of  them 
as  were  "  violent  in  breaking  down  fences,  and  were 
noted  to  kill  poultiy,"  were  not  by  law  to  be  kept  at 
all — they  were  consigned,  without  chance  of  redemp- 
tion, to  the  knife.  No  laws,  in  our  early  Town  rec- 
ords, are  of  more  frequent  occurrence  than  those  re- 
lating to  the  restraint,  by  pounds  and  fences,  of  most 
of  the  domestic  animals.  Cattle  were  not  to  run  at 
large — goats  were  not  to  be  put  in  the  '  Common,'  or 
in  the  streets,  without  a  keeper,  and  keepers,  or  herds- 
men, were  frequently  appointed  for  cattle  and  flocks. 
Two  pence  were  exacted  from  the  owner  of  each  in- 
carcerated animal,  and  pound  breach  was  punished 
by  a  fine  of  ten  shillings. 

As  for  horses,  they  were  common,  but  we  do  not 
hear  of  any  among  them  professing  Arabian,  Andalu- 
sian  or  Flemish  descent.  There  was  among  them  no 
blood  of  the  Barb — no  Flying  Childers,  or  Eclipse, 
but  most  were  of  the  common  English  draught  horse 
breed,  with  perhaps  here  and  there  a  road  horse,  a 
galloway,  or  a  pony.  Josselyn  does  not  speak  w^ell  of 
the  New  England  horses  generally  about  this  period. 
He  says  they  were  numerous,  with  here  and  there  a 
good  one,  but  that  their  owners,  except  '  Magistrates, 
Great  Masters  and  Troopers,'  seldom  provided  fodder 
for  them  in  the  winter,  by  reason  of  which  they  were 


150  HARTFORD. 

"brought  very  low  in  flesh  till  the  spring,  and  so 
crest-fallen  that  their  crests  would  never  rise  again !" 
We  believe  this,  so  far  as  Hartford  is  concerned,  to 
be  a  slander,  and  that  the  Settlers,  though  they  were 
not  all  '  big  bugs,'  took  just  as  good  care  of  their 
horses  as  they  did  of  themselves. 

As  for  poultry,  this  abounded.  Josselyn  speaks  of 
one  variety  in  New  England  which  had  '  commonly 
three  broods  in  a  year.'  It  was  customary  then 
as  now,  to  bring  any  choice  breeds  from  England, 
though  we  do  not  find  that  the  modern  '  hen  fever' 
ever  prevailed.  The  Settlers  probably  never  heard  of 
a  Dorking,  Poland,  Chittagong  or  Madagascar  fowl. 
The  breed  they  had  was,  we  think,  pretty  much 
the  Creole,  resulting  from  the  ordinary  intermixture 
among  the  fowls,  without  regard  to  any  laws  of  taste, 
of  their  ordinary  door-yard  friendships.  Josselyn,  to 
be  sure,  speaks  of  one  variety  which  was  somewhat 
peculiar,  a  cock  and  a  hen  "  that  had  horns  like  spurs 
growing  out  of  each  side  of  their  combs,"  which  '  a 
good  woman'  brought  aboard  with  her  in  1637,  for  a 
voyage  to  New  England,  but  '  she  spoiled  the  breed,' 
he  says,  by  "  killing  of  them  at  sea  to  feed  upon,  for 
she  loved  a  fresh  bit" — so  that  Hartford,  it  will  be 
seen,  never  got  the  advantage  of  this  stock — and  all 
owing,  like  sin  in  the  world,  to  the  perverse  appetite 
of  angel  woman !  To  the  creatures  now  mentioned 
add  cats,  which  were  '  common  here  as  in  England' — 
and  dogs,  which  were  '  gallant  both  for  fowl  and  for 
wild  beast' — and  the  birds  and  the  squirrels,  and  the 
rabbits,  and  the  fawn,  that  the  children  tamed,  and  it 
will  be  apparent  that  so  far  as  the  domestic  animals 


ITS     AGRICULTURE.  151 

are  concerned,  the   Settlers  of  Hartford  were  well  pro- 
vided. 

We  leave  them  then  in  their  agriculture,  and  with 
their  quadrupeds  and  bipeds,  to  their  enjoyments.  It 
is  night,  and  they  have  laid  aside  their  implements  of 
husbandry,  and  shut  their  stable  doors,  and  locked  up 
their  houses,  and  have  ceased  in  their  sleep  to  think 
of  farming  or  stock,  of  Church  or  State,  or  the  Indi- 
an. Their  chickens  have  long  gone  to  roost,  and  so 
must  we  I  Sc^VA. 


fartfor^. 


ITS  TRADES  AND  COMMESCE— DOWN  TO  1650. 

No.  16. 

"And  thy  sons 

From  their  sweet  sleep  at  early  dawn  dost  call, 

Mindless  of  wintry  blast,  or  sultry  suns, 

Some  goodly  task  propoi'tioiiing  to  all." 

M)'s.  Stgou7-ney. 


"  Market,  and  fair,  and  warehouse  help  the  scene." 


*'  I  behold  the  ships 
Gliding  from  cape  to  cape,  from  isle  to  isle, 
Or  stemming  towards  far  lands,  or  hastening  home 
From  the  old  world." 


Anon. 


Bryant. 


What  do  you  expect,  Reader,  in  this  Article  ? 
Something,  or  we  shall  *■  miss  fire,'  and  this  we  should 
hate  to  do.  We  like  a  report^  sound  it  loud  or  not, 
both  for  self's  sake  and  for  your  own.  But  we  can 
not  promise  you  a  treat  of  positive  richness  to-day, 
for  our  material  is  comparatively  sparse.  Still  it  is 
good  so  far  as  it  goes,  because  it  is  history,  and  that 
of — Hartford.     Try  and  think  so ! 

What  would  be  your  first-blush  impression  about 
trades  in  our  Town  during  the  Period  upon  which  we 
dwell?     Were  they  many  or  few — skilfully  executed 

or  not — and  what  ?     We  can  tell  you  but  little  as  to 
20 


154 


HARTFORD, 


their  practical  management,  but  that  they  existed  in 
good  variety  is  certain.  We  find  mention  often 
made  of  carpenters,  wheelwrights,  plow-^\Tits,  ma- 
sons, joiners,  hatters,  smiths,  butchers,  coopers,  tan- 
ners and  curriers,  and  weavers.  Other  '  artificers  and 
handicraftsmen,'  including  doubtless  shoemakers,  tail- 
ors, and  ropers,  are  alluded  to  in  the  Records,  but  are 
not  particularly  described.  The  business  of  a  sawyer 
was  a  common  one,  and  was  performed  by  the  hand, 
and  by  means  of  two  laborers,  one  of  whom  stood  at 
one  end  of  the  saw  in  a  pit  dug  in  the  ground,  and 
the  other  above  on  a  frame  upon  which  the  timber  to 
be  sawed  was  placed.  The  business  of  a  miller  was 
of  course  pursued,  but  did  not  engross  many  hands. 
The  first  mill,  Mr.  Allyn's,  was  at  the  foot  of  present 
West  Pearl  street — the  second  a  few  rods  below  the 
present  site  of  Mr.  Imlay's  flouring  mill,  near  the  resi- 
dence of  J.  Catlin,  Esq.,  and  the  third  upon  this  last 
mentioned  site.  Mills  were  a  frequent  subject  of 
town  legislation  in  early  times.  Tanning  also  re- 
ceived much  attention,  and  at  the  hands  too  of  the 
General  Court.  It  is  even  called  a  '  mystery'  in  their 
Records,  and  they  provided  by  law  for  the  "  prudent 
preserving  and  seasonable  bringing  forth  to  dressing" 
of  the  skins  and  pelts  particularly  of  cows  and  goats, 
and  at  one  time,  1645,  for  the  supply  of  leather,  or- 
dered that  no  calves  should  be  killed  within  the  Plan- 
tations "  without  the  approbation  of  two  men  within 
each  Town,  upon  forfeiture  of  ten  shillings  to  the 
Country."  Thus  watchful  of  the  interests  of  artisans 
was  the  General  Court,  in  early  times.  And  its  inter- 
ference then  was  provident — ^it  ensured  the  supply  of 


ITS     TRADES    AND     COMMERCE.  155 

necessaries  at  a  period  w^hen  their  acquisition  was 
difficult,  and  when  their  failure  would  have  been 
deeply  felt.  It  was  therefore  encouraging.  We 
should  not,  any  of  us,  like  it  now.  Of  course  not, 
for  we  have  grown  big!  Labor  is  endlessly  multi- 
plied. Production  heaps  our  warehouses.  We  have 
plenty  of  leather — the  best — and  the  name  of  calves 
is  Legion.  Who  can't  eat  veal  now — without  com- 
punction too  on  the  score  of  the  tanner's  product — 
and  calve's-foot  jelly  to  boot,  not  to  speak  of  that 
tempting  best  part  of  the  cow's  child,  the  delicious 
sweet-bread  ? 

As  to  the  commerce  of  the  Town,  though  subject 
to  interruptions  from  the  hostile  or  wayward  conduct 
of  the  Indians,  and  from  occasional  scarcity,  it  was 
considerable  for  the  time.  The  system,  in  this  re- 
spect, by  wdiich  the  Settlers  were  governed,  though  in 
some  aspects  peculiar,  yet  embraced  many  of  the 
principles  and  practices  which  obtain  at  the  present 
day.  The  theoretical  doctrines  of  production,  distri- 
bution and  consumption,  we  do  not  suppose  ever 
puzzled  their  brains,  but,  guided  by  a  few  maxims  of 
common  sense,  they  went  on  to  smite  industriously 
both  land  and  sea  for  tribute. 

They  had  their  money,  of  course — but  their  'Abra- 
hams' did  not  '  weigh'  out  to  their  '  Ephrons'  of  busi- 
ness any  shekels  of  silver,  nor  did  they  get  much  of 
the  precious  metals  even  by  tale,  nor  bank  paper  at 
all,  but  corn,  pease,  beaver  and  wampum  chiefly 
formed  their  circulating  medium.  Most  of  their  ex- 
changes were  made  in  kind — commodity  for  com- 
modity.    They  had  their  system  of  accounting — sim- 


156  HARTFORD. 

pie  but  effective.  They  used  the  instrumentality,  to 
every  extent  necessary  with  them,  of  business  paper. 
They  had  their  merchants,  or  chapmen  as  they  are 
sometimes  called  in  the  Records,  to  mediate  their  ex- 
changes. Two  of  these  were  particularly  eminent — 
Governor  Hopkins  and  Mr.  Whiting — men  whose  un- 
tiring mercantile  industry  and  skill  contributed  large- 
ly to  the  good  of  the  Town.  They  had  their  ware- 
houses. These  were  at  first,  however,  but  few  in 
number,  and  were  concentrated  chiefly  in  present 
Governors  Street,  and  at  the  two  Landings.  They 
had  their  trading-houses,  scattered  not  only  through 
the  Town,  but  also  in  the  country,  where  '  the  benefit 
and  liberty  of  free  trade,'  with  the  exclusive  use  of  a 
number  of  acres  of  ground,  were  frequently  bestowed 
by  act  of  the  General  Court,  upon  certain  merchants, 
as  at  Waranoke  upon  Governor  Hopkins,  and  at 
Pawcatuck  on  Thomas  Stanton.  Thus  did  trade  be- 
gin at  once  to  lay  the  nest  eggs  of  new  settlements 
throvighout  Connecticut.  Hartford  very  early  too, 
1.643,  had  its  Market,  and  established  by  law,  to  be 
held  weekly,  every  Wednesday,  and  for  the  sale  and 
exchange  of  "  all  manner  of  commodities  that  should 
be  brought  in,  for  cattle  or  any  merchandize  whatso- 
ever." In  addition  to  this,  1645,  the  Town  had  two 
Fairs  instituted  by  law,  "  to  be  kept  yearly,  one  upon 
the  second  Wednesday  of  May,  the  other  the  second 
Wednesday  in  September."  Once  a  week  then,  and 
upon  grander  occasions,  twice  every  year,  Hartford 
became  a  mart  for  the  whole  surrounding  country, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
State — a  fact  true,  in  the  period  of  which  we  speak, 


ITS    TRADES    AND    COMMERCE.  157 

of  no  other  town  in  Connecticut — a  fact  that  shows 
for  our  Town,  even  at  its  birth,  a  superior  business 
activity  and  importance.  In  the  years  that  have 
since  flown,  she  has  amply  sustained  this  predomin- 
ance, and  will,  we  trust,  to  the  end  of  time.  Long 
may  her  merchants  and  tradesmen  take  pride  in  her 
commercial  character — vie  in  noble  effort  with  every 
other  town  in  the  creations  of  industry,  and  exalt,  be- 
yond the  success  of  other  competitions,  the  horns  of 
her  plenty ! 

While  thus  in  early  times  provided  with  Markets 
and  Fairs,  Hartford,  through  her  own  and  the  foster- 
ing legislation  of  the  Colony,  took  great  pains  in  the 
production  of  her  commodities.  She  established  in- 
spection laws,  particularly  for  her  pipe  staves,  and 
leather,  and  her  yarn,  both  linen  and  woolen.  Her 
weights  and  measures  were  carefully  regulated — they 
were  every  year,  through  the  Town  Clerk,  to  be  com- 
pared and  tried  by  standards  fixed  by  the  Court. 
Her  chief  articles  of  comnnerce,  besides  corn,  pipe 
staves  and  skins,  were  deal  boards,  pork,  beef,  biscuit, 
wool,  cider,  beer  and  tar. 

Of  these  articles  corn,  though  occasionally,  as  just 
after  the  Pequot  War,  quite  scarce,  was  most  of  the 
time  abundant,  and  at  some  periods  was  to  be  found 
in  great  profusion.  In  1644,  for  example,  we  hear  of 
a  '  multitude  of  sellers'  of  this  commodity,  of  an 
'  overfilling,'  from  our  River,  of  the  markets  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Plymouth,  and  orders  are  made  for  its 
transportation,  through  the  two  chief  merchants  of 
Hartford,  Governor  Hopkins  and  Mr.  Whiting,  into 
'  parts  beyond  the  seas.'     Pipe  staves  seem  always  to 


158  II  A  n  T  F  O  R  D  . 

be  in  abundance,  as  might  naturally  be  expected,  and 
are  always  in  demand.  They  are  the  frequent  sub- 
ject of  regulations,  as  to  size,  price,  inspection,  and 
exportation,  both  by  the  Town  and  the  General 
Court.  Beaver  and  other  skins  were  of  course  nu- 
merous, but  the  trade  in  these,  so  far  as  the  Lidi- 
ans  were  concerned,  was  committed  to  the  exclusive 
charge  of  one  or  more  men  appointed  in  each  town — 
in  Hartford  to  JVIr.  Whiting  and  Thomas  Stanton. 
Of  articles  exported  from  the  Town,  and  of  those 
consumed  or  used  in  it,  a  few,  in  consequence  of  the 
purchase  of  the  Fort  at  Saybrook  in  1644,  and  the 
agreement  with  Mr.  Fenwick,  had  for  ten  years  to 
pay  a  peculiar  duty.  Grain  exported  was  taxed 
two  pence  per  bushel — ^biscuit  sixpence  per  hundred 
weight — beaver  two  pence  per  pound — every  hogs- 
head of  beer  twenty  shillings — ^^'hile  for  every  hog 
killed  in  the  town  twelve  pence  per  annum  was  ex- 
acted, and  twelve  pence  per  annum  for  every  milch 
cow  or  mare  of  three  years  old  and  upwards.  These 
payments,  to  be  made  in  beaver,  w^ampum,  wheat, 
barley  or  pease,  at  the  common  rates,  were  punctually 
exacted,  and  made  over  to  Mr.  Fenwick  or  his  as- 
signs, till  the  terms  of  the  bargain  were  fulfilled. 

To  conduct  the  commerce  of  the  new  settlement, 
the  citizens  had  their  boats,  their  ketches,  then-  pinks, 
their  pinnaces,  and  their  shallops — of  from  a  few  to 
even  ninety  tons  burthen.  They  had  ample  materials 
for  ship  building  around  them,  and  they  improved 
them — timber  of  oak,  pine  and  spruce  for  masts,  oak 
boards  and  pine  boards,  and  tar,  pitch  and  hemp. 
The  manufacture  of  these  last  two  articles,  as  well  as 


ITS    TRADES     AND     COMMERCE.  159 

the  supply  of  cordage,  and  the  employment  of  ship 
carpenters  and  ropers,  were  specially  encouraged  by 
the  General  Court.  The  Court  went  so  far  in  one  in- 
stance as  to  employ  a  committee  of  its  own  to  build 
a  ship.  It  gave  facilities  to  ship  owners  for  procuring 
freight.  It  exempted  all  seamen  from  training,  and 
imposed  on  them  only  the  light  restraints  of  not 
Weighing  anchor  on  Sunday,  and  of  carefully  paying 
the  Fort  dues  at  Saybrook.  It  attempted,  for  the 
purpose  of  encouraging  marine  industry,  to  establish 
fisheries  and  salt-works  upon  Long  Island.  It  gave 
to  one  Hartford  merchant,  Mr.  Whiting,  the  monopo- 
ly for  seven  years,  '  within  the  liberties'  of  Connecti- 
cut, of  taking  whale.  It  provided  for  another  Hart- 
ford merchant.  Governor  Hopkins,  who  in  1640  un- 
dertook to  furnish  a  vessel  for  the  supply  of  cotton 
wool — it  provided,  and  the  fact  is  worthy  of  note, 
that,  in  consideration  of  this  the  first  attempt  of  the 
kind  to  introduce,  on  anything  like  a  large  scale,  a 
commodity  so  valuable,  the  towns  upon  the  river,  all, 
on  the  return  of  the  vessel,  should  '  by  proportion 
take  off  the  cotton,'  and  pay  for  it  in  English  corn  or 
pipe  staves. 

Thus  encouraged,  Hartford  merchants  freighted 
their  vessels  with  the  products  of  their  town  and 
country,  and  started  them  forth  to  pursue  the  glorious 
windings  of  the  Connecticut,  and  kiss  the  Sound, 
and  vex  the  seas — on  to  Boston,  to  Newfoundland,  to 
New  York,  to  Delaware,  to  Barbadoes,  to  Jamaica,  to 
the  Caribbee  Islands,  on  occasionally  even  to  Fayal 
and  to  the  "Wine  and  Madeira  Isles.  What  did  they 
bring    back?      Clothing    chiefly    at   first,    of    various 


160 


HARTFORD, 


kinds,  implements  of  hnsbandry,  live  stock  at  times, 
sugar,  scythes,  nails,  glass,  pewter,  brass,  fire-arms, 
cutlery-ware,  rum,  wine,  cotton  wool,  and  '  some 
money.'  Such  was  the  "  Golden  Fleece"  of  the  little 
primitive  marine  of  Hartford — and  it  was  one  which 
Jason  and  his  Argonauts,  back  in  the  infancy  and  ex- 
periment of  Greek  commerce,  might  have  envied! 
Clothes  and  utensils  "  wherewithal  to  work  and  sub- 
due a  country  I"  Return  cargoes  of  the  necessaries 
and  comforts  of  life — what  better — all  save  perhaps, 
as  some  will  think,  the  mm — but  even  this  long-suf- 
fering, and  patient,  though  almost  proscribed  member 
of  the  family  of  merchandise,  was  in  the  olden  time, 
says  officially  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  needed  "  to 
refresh  the  spirits  of  such  as  labored  in  the  extreme 
heat  and  cold,  to  serve  his  Majesty's  enlargement  of 
Dominions" — and  as  for  wine,  who  will  question  St. 
Paul's  ^little'  dose  of  this,  or  doubt  that,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  record,  it  "  did  good  unto  the  hearts  of  our 
wilderness  people  ?"  Whatever  may  be  thought  on 
these  points,  it  is  at  all  events  sure  proof  of  the  com- 
mercial activity  of  the  Settlers  that  at  a  time  when 
rum  and  wine  were  not  common,  when  in  the  old 
country  their  use  was  confined  almost  exclusively, 
like  the  potato  and  the  cauliflower,  to  the  nobles 
and  the  rich,  they,  these  dwellers  in  the  woods  of  a 
New  World,  had  these  articles,  and  in  abundance 
enough  too  to  warrant,  early  as  1643,  a  Temperance 
Law — ^the  first  upon  our  Statute  Book !  Their  com- 
merce certainly  was,  for  their  time,  and  under  their 
circumstances,  large — creditable  alike  to  their  indus- 
try, their  energy,  and  their  boldness!  Sc^va. 


fartfarlr. 


THE    SCHOOL— THE    CHURCH— THE    GRAVE— DOWN 

TO  1650. 

No.  ir. 

"  There  in  his  noisy  mansion,  skilled  to  rule, 
The  village  master  taught  his  little  school." 


Goldsniiih. 


"Allured  to  brighter  worlds,  and  led  the  way." 
"  The  deep,  damp  vault,  the  darkness  and  the  worm." 


Id. 


Young. 


The  School  I  Of  course  it  continued  to  exist  with 
the  Settlers,  for  they,  almost  all,  had  themselves  fed 
on  the  pabulum  of  education.  They  knew  its  sweet- 
ness, its  vital  nourishment,  the  quick,  noble  energies 
it  inspires,  and  its  glorious  fruitage.  And  their  "wee 
ones"  were  many,  for  they  were  a  prolific  race.  How 
their  baptisms  stare  one  in  the  face  in  the  second  vol- 
ume of  our  Town  Records !  They  gathered  their  off- 
spring numerously  "  as  the  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her  wings" — and  tended  them  with  as  much 
care,  till  feathered  and  firm  with  years,  the  adolescent 
bipeds  could  take  care  of  themselves.  It  is  not  how- 
21 


162  HARTFORD.       THE     SCHOOL 

ever  until  1642,  that  we  find  any  direct  notice  in  the 
records  of  their  School,  though  beyond  doubt  it  exist- 
ed before.  Then,  December  sixth,  thirty  pounds  are 
settled  upon  it.  Again,  1643,  it  is  directed  that  six- 
teen pounds  a  year  shall  be  paid  to  Mr.  Andrews  for 
keeping  it.  This  is  William  Andrews.  He  is  the  first 
Town  Schoolmaster  then  mentioned  in  our  Records. 

He  lived  on  the  north  corner  of  the  present  Elm 
and  Bliss  Streets,  and  had  a  house  on  this  site. 
Wonder  if  he  kept  school  there !  Probably  he  did. 
Wonder  how  he  kept  it !  Was  he  '  skilled  to  rule  ?' 
Did  his  '  boding  tremblers'  learn  to  trace 

"  The  day's  disasters  in  his  morning's  face  ?" 

Or  was  he  kind?  Had  he  his  'jokes' — and  if  '  severe 
in  aught,'  was 

"  The  love  he  bore  to  learning  all  his  fault?" 

Who  can  tell  ?  And  what  did  he  teach  ?  A.  B.  C's, 
writing,  and  arithmetic,  of  com'se.  The  Psalter,  of 
course.  His  pupils  sucked  too,  doubtless,  the  '■'■Milk 
for  Bahes,^^  that  Catechism  by  John  Cotton,  while 
their  master  devoured  the  '■'■  Meat  for  Strong  Men^^  by 
the  same  eminent  divine.  How  interesting  his  biog- 
raphy would  be,  as  that  of  the  first  man  probably  in 
our  Town  \vho  taught  '  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot!' 
But  Time,  that  devourer,  has  eaten  up  his  idiosyncra- 
sy along  with  the  'one  head'  that  carried  'all  he 
knew' — so  that  even  that  day  and  night-dream  of  all 
that  relates  to  schools  and  schoolmasters,  our  pres- 
ent able  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools, 
would  not  be  able  to  enlighten  us  about  his  history. 


THE  CHURCH THE  GRAVE.         163 

The  same  act  which  gave  Mr.  Andrews  his  sixteen 
pounds  a  year,  provides  that  the'  Town  shall  pay  for 
the  schooling  of  the  poor,  and  for  all  deficiencies — a 
noble,  beneficent  provision,  that  clutches  and  applies 
at  once,  in  all  its  strength,  that  grand  principle  of 
public  support  for  education,  which,  more  than  aught 
besides,  has  given  to  Connecticut  its  prosperity  and 
its  glory — a  principle  which  was  not  confined  by  the 
Settlers,  be  it  marked,  to  the  Town  alone,  but  which, 
in  a  contribution  required,  of  almost  every  family,  of 
the  quarter  part  of  a  bushel  of  corn,  or  grain  and  pro- 
visions, or  of  something  equivalent  thereto,  and  of  a 
part  of  twenty  pounds,  was  extended  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  poor  scholars,  and  to  the  support  of  a  fel- 
lowship in  the  College  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts ! 

Hartford's  first  School-house,  lamely  made  up  with- 
out doubt,  like  '  the  straggling  fence'  that  skirted  it, 
soon  wore  out — and  we  find  the  Town,  1648,  appro- 
priating forty  pounds  for  a  new  one,  and  individuals 
are  requested  to  add  to  this  sum,  since  the  want  of 
"  better  conveniency  in  schooling  hath  been  both  un- 
comfortable to  those  who  have  been  employed  in  that 
service,  and  prejudicial  to  the  work  under  hand,  which 
is  looked  iipon  as  conducing  7nuch  to  the  good  of  the 
present  age,  and  that  of  the  futureP  Reflection  most 
profound !  Philosophy  most  solid  and  immortal ! 
Aye,  Spirits  of  the  Founders  of  our  Town,  that  "jFm- 
ture  Age'"'  your  wise  forecast  embraced,  and  for  which 
so  signally  in  love  and  hope  ye  strove,  now  after 
Time  has  rolled  the  circuit  of  two  hundred  years, 
pours  from  the  deep,  firm-walled,  magnificent  Fount 


164  HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL 

ye  established,  pours  back  that  floodlight  of  knowl- 
edge which  your  vision  touched,  and  writes  and  illu- 
minates upon  your  tombs  the  epitaph  of  "  Blessed  !" 
From  the  School  to  the  Church — that  first  one  of 
Hartford,  whose  organization  we  have  already,  in  a 
former  Article,  explained.  What  was  its  progress 
during  the  First  Period?  In  attendance,  considera- 
ble— for  in  1644,  the  Settlers  had  to  build  a  gallery  in 
their  Meeting-house  to  accommodate  the  increased 
number  of  worshippers.  The  Church 'gained  also  in 
equipment — for  by  1640  it  had  obtained  a  hell,  and 
Thomas  Woodford  first  taught  its  clapper  '  how  to 
strike.'  He  was  the  first  Bell-Ringer  of  Hartford! 
What  an  improvement — that  Bell — over  the  drum, 
that  of  Farmington  for  instance,  which  was  used  "  to 
call  folks  to  meeting  on  Sunday,"  and  over  the  hoarse 
resounding  conch  shells  elsewhere  used  in  olden  time ! 
Its  voice  was  dulcet  in  comparison,,  and  must  have 
been  to  the  Settlers,  amid  the  wild  echoes  of  their 
new  home,  imposing  even  as  is  to  the  Parisians  at 
the  present  day  the  voice  of  the  "  Emanuel"*  of  their 
Notre  Dame,  whose  clapper  alone  enforces  tones  with 
the  weight  of  nine  hundred  and  seventy-six  pounds ! 
The  church  also  gained  in  time — for  in  1640  Henry 
Packs,  by  will,  bestowed  'uppon'  it  "the  Clocke 
which  [his]  Brother  Thorneton  had  bought  I"  But  it 
did  not  long  adorn  the  old  Meeting-House,  for  this, 
rudely  built  at  first,  though  from  time  to  time  new 
clapboarded,  and  furnished  with  a  gallery,  and  with  a 
porch,  and  with  new  stairs  that  '  led  up  into  its  cham- 

*  Name  of  the  Bell. 


THE      CHURCH THE      GRAVE.  165 

ber,'  yielded  at  last  to  decay,  and  in  1649  was  given 
by  the  Town  to  Mrs.  Hooker.  The  clock  doubtless 
passed  to  the  new  Meeting-house,  and  clicked,  we 
trust,  with  special  accuracy,  the  devotional  hours  to 
which  it  was  consecrated. 

But  how  many  souls,  during  the  First  Period,  did 
the  First  Church  of  Hartford  save  ?  We  know  not. 
How  many  persons  adopt  into  its  membership  ?  We 
know  not.  How  many  excommunicate  from  its  em- 
brace ?  But  one  that  we  can  learn — Matthew  Al- 
len— and  this  distinguished  Settler  without  cause,  he 
says,  and  unjustly,  for  in  1644  he  presented  several 
petitions  to  the  General  Court  "  in  regard  of  his  cen- 
sure of  excommunication,"  affirming  that  he  had  been 
'wronged,'  and  he  was  ordered  to  bring  into  Court 
the  particulars  of  his  accusation.  But  he  did  not. 
Yet  we  shall  never  believe  him  guilty  of  anything 
sinful  or  heinous — for  he  was  a  good  man,  a  just 
man,  a  high-minded  man,  and  one  of  the  props  of 
the  Colony.  Perhaps  he  entertained  sentiments  on 
baptism,  church-membership,  or  church  discipline,  va- 
riant from  those  of  a  majority  of  the  church,  and  so 
"  fell  under  the  ban,"  as  did  others,  not  many  years 
after,  for  the  same  cause.  The  South  Congregational 
Church  in  this  City,  is  the  offspring,  1670,  of  difficul- 
ties of  this  character.  Yet  notwithstanding  these, 
the  First  Church  in  Hartford,  during  the  period  under 
consideration,  enjoyed  generally  great  harmony,  and 
was  nourished  all  the  while  with  intense  care.  Very 
soon,  1644,  the  maintenance  of  ministers,  which  for 
nine  years  previously  had  been  purely  voluntary  on 


166  HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL 

the  part  of  the  people,  was  made  by  law  compulsory. 
Good  for  the  clergy!  "Let  the  trees  of  the  field" 
ecclesiastical  throughout  Connecticut  "  clap  their 
hands!"  "  Let  the  [pulpit]  hills  be  joyful  together!" 
Two  persons  indeed  were  first  to  solicit  contributions 
for  the  Church,  but  in  case  any  one  refused  '  to  pay  a 
meet  proportion,'  he  was  then  to  be  "  rated  by  author- 
ity in  some  just  and  equal  way,"  and  the  civil  power 
was  to  be  exercised  in  collecting  "  as  in  other  just 
debts." 

By  the  Church  a  Burying- Yard,  of  course.  We 
have  to  notice  such  Yard  here  again,  because  the 
Town,  1640,  appointed  a  new  one,  of  which  we  have 
not  spoken,  and  because  this  new  one  contains  distin- 
guished dust.  It  was  "  Richard  Olmsted's  lot,"  and 
for  this  the  Town  gave  him  a  parcel  of  ground  lying 
at  the  North  Meadow  gate,  and  called  the  Cow  Yard. 
It  is  the  present  Yard  in  the  rear  of  the  Centre 
Church,  only  in  former  times  it  was  larger  than  now. 
Heaps  of  bones,  as  well  as  coffins,  in  digging  cellars 
for  Kellogg's  and  for  Robinson's  buildings,  and  in 
sinking  the  foundation  of  the  Church  at  the  north- 
west corner,  were  carefully  taken  up  and  removed 
within  the  present  enclosure.  Thomas  Woodford, 
the  Bell-Ringer  and  Crier  of  the  Town,  was  also  the 
first  Sexton  of  this  Yard.  He  was  'to  attend  the 
making  of  graves  for  any  corpses  deceased' — to  lay 
no  corpse  less  than  four  feet  deep — to  lay  none  'above 
four  years  old  less  than  five  feet  deep' — none  '  above 
ten  less  than  six  feet  deep.'  He  was  to  keep  each 
grave  '  in  seemly  repair,  so  that  it  [should]  be  known 
in  future  time,'  and  for  one  of  '  the  lesser  sort'  was  to 


THE  CHURCH  — THE  GRAVE.         167 

receive  two  shillings  and  sixpence,  for  one  of  '  the 
middle  sort'  three  shillings,  and  for  one  of  '  the  high- 
est sort'  three  shillings  and  sixpence. 

What,  we  wonder,  would  the  lineal  successor  of 
Thomas  Woodford  say,  our  present  worthy  '  man  and 
boy'  Sexton  of  'thirty  years,'  if  the  'well-plumed' 
hearses  of  our  clay  came  '  nodding  on'  to  his  beautiful 
"  Spring  Grove  Cemetery,"  but  to  leave  him  for  all 
his  painful  care,  less  than  four  shillings — two  shillings 
even  and  a  meagi-e  sixpence  ?  He  '  builds  stronger 
than  a  mason,  a  shipwright,  or  a  carpenter' — we  have 
Shakspeare's  authority  for  this — but  would  he,  for  the 
lean  compensation  of  Hartford's  first  sexton,  build  the 
house  that  '  lasts  till  doomsday,'  and  let  the  dead  '  sup 
with  their  progenitors  ?'  iNIarry,  we  think  not.  He 
could  not,  now  a  days,  long  '  live  upon  the  dead'  at 
the  primitive  rates  of  burial,  unless  some  pestilence 
should  huddle  corpses.  Yet  he's  a  kind-hearted  old 
man,  and  would  not,  for  all  the  world,  let  a  poor  body 
go  '  ungraved.'  Strange  that  the  familiars  of  death, 
your  sextons  and  your  hangmen,  are  remarkable  for 
sensibility ! 

But  who  did  Thomas  Woodford,  or  his  successor 
within  the  First  Period,  bury  ? 

James  Olmstead — William  Spencer — Thomas  Scott — 
Seth  Grant — William  Butler — Robert  Day — Daniel 
Steel,  who  was  an  infant  son  of  our  first  Town 
Clerk — Timothy  Standley — Gov.  George  Wyllys — and 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker. 

Also  the  following — whose  names  have  been  kindly 
furnished  us  by  our  friend  J.  Hammond  Trumbull 
Esq. — to  wit:    Thomas  Johnson,  '■'■the  cobler,"  as  he  is 


168  HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL 

called  in  the  order  of  the  Court  for  the  settlement  of 
his  estate — the  first  ivife  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Stone, 
who,  according  to  Mr.  Hooker,  "  smoaked  out  her 
days  in  the  darknesse  of  melancholic" — Richard  Ly- 
man,  and  soon  after  him  his  ividoiv — Thomas  Crump, 
a  servant  or  retainer  of  Gov.  Hopkins — John  Pur- 
chas — "  Mistress  Cullick"  supposed  to  have  been  the 
first  wife  of  Capt.  John  Cullick,  Secretary  of  the  Col- 
ony from  1648  to  1658 — Richard  Saivyer — William 
WJiiting — and  "  Goody  Bets^  Upon  these  last  three, 
Mr.  Trumbull  remarks  as  follows  : 

'■'•Richard  Sawyer,  who  died  in  1648,  was  a  hired 
servant  or  retainer  of  Capt.  Cullick.  His  inventory 
would  lead  us  to  infer  that  servants  in  those  days 
were  at  least  as  well  dressed  as  their  masters, — or 
that  Richard  Sawyer  was  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule,  which  forbade  all  persons  to  '  exceede  their  con- 
dition and  ranks,'  in  '  excesse  of  apparelL'  Richard 
had,  a  '  musk  colored  cloth  doublet,'  a  '  bucks  leather 
doublet,'  a  '  calves'  leather  doublet,'  a  '  liver  colored 
doublet  and  jacket  and  breeches,'  a  '  hair  colored 
jacket  and  breeches,'  a  '  stuff  jacket,'  '  green  knit 
hose,'  '  colored  hats,'  &c.  &c.,  with  a  good  supply  of 
the  minor  accessories  of  a  well  furnished  wardrobe. 

"  Williani  Whiting,  a  prominent,  wealthy  and  influen- 
tial citizen  of  the  Colony,  and  one  of  its  magistrates, 
died  July,  1647.  He  was  largely  interested  in  trade 
and  commerce ;  was  for  several  years  Treasurer  of 
the  Colony,  and  seems  to  have  been  relied  on  by  the 
General  Court  for  the  transaction  of  all  business  re- 
quiring the  investment  of  large  capital  or  the  exercise 
of  financial  skill.     In  conjunction  with  his  friend  and 


THE  CHURCH THE  GRAVE.         169 

partner,  Gov.  Hopkins,  he  was  entrusted  with  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  exportation  of  corn  and  grain  raised  in 
the  Colony ;  and  in  1647,  the  Court  granted  him  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  prosecuting  the  whale  fishery, 
for  seven  years ;  a  design  which  he  did  not  live  to 
carry  into  execution.  His  estate  was  inventoried  at 
<£2S54 — a  large  fortune  for  that  period. 

"  '  Goody  Bets,''  was  '  the  School-dame.^  It  appears 
then  that  Hartford,  at  this  early  period,  had  at  least 
two  schools  ;  the  one,  taught  by  William  Andrews,  an 
accomplished  clerk  and  scholar,  (as  the  records  which 
are  yet  preserved,  in  his  exact  and  beautiful  penman- 
ship, sufficiently  indicate ;)  and  another,  probably  un- 
der more  humble  auspices,  as  ^primary  school — 

'  Lest  weakly  wights  of  smalltr  size  should  straj', 
Eager,  pei'die,  to  bask  in  sunny  da}' ! 
Where  sat  the  dame,  disguised  m  look  profound, 
And  eyed  her  fairy  throng,  and  turned  her  wheel  around.' 

The  '  School  Master'  was  a  dignitary  in  his  way. 
He  received  a  salary  from  the  town.  He  rejoiced  in 
the  prefix  of  '  IVIr.,'  at  a  period  when  such  titles  had  a 
significancy  which  rarely  attaches  to  honorary  titles 
now-a-days.  The  mistress  of  the  'woman's  school' 
held,  of  course,  a  somewhat  humbler  position. 

'Xo  pompous  title  did  debauch  her  ear! 
Goody,  good  woman,  gossip,  n'aunt,  forsooth, — 
Or  Dame, — the  sole  additions  she  did  hear!' 

"All  that  I  can  learn  of  her  or  her  school,  is  contained 
in  the  brief  record  of  her  death  which  I  have  quoted. 
Yet  doubtless  there  were  many  of  the  future  Magis- 
trates and  Ministers  and  public  men  of  the  Colony, 
22 


170  HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL 

who  conned  their  first  lessons,  from  the  horn  book,  at 
Goody  Betts'  side,  in  her  little  school-room." 

Doubtless  other  persons  than  those  now  men- 
tioned— quite  a  number — died  within  the  period  un- 
der consideration.  Not  a  record  of  them,  however, 
that  we  can  find,  remains — not  even  a  head  or  a  foot 
stone.  But  of  those  whose  names  we  have  given, 
there  were  Governor  Haynes  and  Mr.  Hooker — highly 
distinguished  both,  as  the  Reader  is  aware.  Let  us 
notice  them  briefly — and  so  conclude. 

The  first  spent  but  a  short  time  in  the  New 
World — but  six  years — ere  he  was  called  to  his  rest. 
Born  in  the  hereditary  mansion  of  Fenny  Compton, 
at  Knapton,  in  the  County  of  Warwick,  in  England, 
where  he  enjoyed  an  estate  of  five  hundred  pounds  a 
year^  he  came  to  this  country  in  1638,  and  settled  up- 
on the  hill  long  known  as  the  Wyllys  Hill,  the  pres- 
ent Charter  Oak  Place.  In  1639,  he  was  chosen  into 
the  magistracy  of  the  Colony,  and  again  in  1640.  In 
1641  he  was  elected  Deputy  Governor ;  in  1642  Gov- 
ernor, and  after  this  continued  to  occupy  the  post  of 
Assistant  till  his  death — which  occurred  March  9th, 
1644 — (1645  according  to  the  present  computation.) 
His  position  was  always  a  leading  one  in  the  Colony. 
He  took  great  interest  in  agriculture — had  a  large 
landed  estate,  and  employed  many  men.  He  was  a 
devout  Puritan,  earnest  in  his  love  for  undefiled  relig- 
ion, exact  in  his  attention  to  divine  ordinances  and 
worship,  peculiarly  careful  of  the  education  of  his 
children,  dignified  yet  affable  in  his  deportment,  and 
was  beloved  by  all.     He  lies  buried  in  the  old  Yard 


THE     CHURCH THE     GRAVE.  171 

of  the  Centre  Church,  directly  beneath,  or  close  by 
the  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  First 
Settlers,  and  there  repose  the  bones  of  his  family 
down  to  the  present  time.  He  never  had  a  monu- 
ment, nor  did  any  one  of  his  distinguished  family 
have  one.  In  this  respect  they  were  peculiar.  One 
of  the  latest  male  members  being  asked  why  they  did 
not  follow  the  custom  in  this  respect,  replied,  in  the 
impulse  of  a  strong  pride,  that  "  if  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut could  not  remember  the  Wyllyses  without  a 
monument,  their  memory  might  rot !"  Peace  to  the 
ashes  of  the  worthy  old  third  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut !  * 

'■''Brother.)  I  am  going  to  receive  mercy, ^^  said  Tfiom- 
as  Hooker,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age,  to  one 
who  stood  by  his  couch  when  dying — and  "  closing 
his  eyes  with  his  own  hands,  and  gently  stroking  his 
own  forehead,  he  gave  a  little  groan,  and  so  expired 
his  blessed  soul  into  the  arms  of  his  fellow-servants, 
the  holy  angels,  on  July  7th,  1647."  "  In  memory  of 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,"  says  a  modern  inscription 
on  an  original  monument  over  his  grave,f  "  who  in 
1636,  with  his  assistant,  Mr.  Stone,  removed  to  Hart- 
ford with  about  100  persons,  where  he  planted  ye  first 
church  in  Connecticut — an  able,  eloquent  and  faithful 
minister  of  Christ.     He  died  July  7th,  ^t.  LXI." 

*  See  a  biographical  sketch  of  him,  from  our  ovm  pen,  in  the  Connecticut 
Courant  of  September  8th,  1845. 

t  By  Hon.  Seth  Terry,  of  Hartford.  The  monument  in  the  Centre  Bury- 
ing Yard,  consists  of  a  plain  slab  of  red  sandstone  or  freestone,  about  five 
inches  in  thickness,  raised  on  blocks  of  the  same,  a  short  distance  from  the 
ground. 


172 


HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL- 


This  founder  and  father  of  Hartford  was  bom  at 
Marshfield,  England,  and  was  a  man  eminent  alike 
for  his  piety,  his  learning,  his  prudence,  and  his  ener- 
gy. A  graduate  of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  in 
youth,  says  Trumbull,  "he  received  the  spirit  of  adop- 
tion, and  was  enabled  to  exhibit  a  life  of  the  most  ex- 
emplary patience  and  goodness.  Naturally  a  man  of 
strong  and  lively  passions,  he  obtained  a  happy  gov- 
ernment of  himself.  In  his  day  he  was  one  of  the 
most  animated  and  'powerful  preachers  in  New  En- 
gland. In  conversation  he  was  pleasant  and  enter- 
taining, but  always  grave.  He  was  affable,  conde- 
scending and  charitable.  Yet  his  appearance  and 
conduct  were  with  such  becoming  majesty,  authority 
and  prudence,  that  he  would  do  more  with  a  word,  or 
a  look,  than  other  men  could  with  a  severe  discipline. 
It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  him  to  give  away 
five  or  ten  pounds  at  a  time  to  poor  widows,  orphans, 
and  necessitous  people" — a  charity  he  was  fortunate- 
ly able  to  perform,  for  he  was  rich  for  the  time — his 
estate,  upon  his  decease,  being  appraised  at  thirteen 
hundred  and  thirty-six  pounds  and  fifteen  shillings,  of 
which  his  library  alone  was  valued  at  three  hundred 
pounds.  "  He  was,"  say  Edward  Hopkins  and  Wil- 
liam Goodwin,  his  cotemporaries,  "  one  of  a  thousand 
whose  diligence  and  unweariedness,  besides  his  other 
endowments  in  the  work  committed  to  him,  were 
almost  beyond  compare."  He  was  distinguished  for 
his  excellence  in  prayer.  It  was  observed,  says  his  bi- 
ographer Edward  W.  Hooker,*  "  that  his  prayer  was 

*  We  commend  his  little  work  to  the  Reader.    It  will  amply  repay  perusal. 


THE     CHURCH THE     GRAVE.  173 

usually  like  Jacob's  ladder,  wherein  the  nearer  he 
came  to  the  end,  the  nearer  he  drew  to  heaven,  and 
he  grew  into  such  rapturous  pleadings  with  God  and 
praisings  of  God,  as  made  some  to  say  that,  like  the 
master  of  the  feast,  he  reserved  the  best  wine  until 
the  last."  Hooker,  says  Bancroft,  was  a  man  "  of 
vast  endowments,  a  strong  will,  and  an  energetic 
mind ;  ingenuous  in  his  temper,  and  open  in  his  pro- 
fessions ;  trained  to  benevolence  by  the  discipline  of 
affliction ;  versed  in  tolerance,  by  his  refuge  in  Hol- 
land ;  choleric,  yet  gentle  in  his  affections ;  firm  in  his 
faith,  yet  readily  yielding  to  the  power  of  reason ;  the 
peer  of  the  reformers,  without  their  harshness ;  the 
devoted  apostle  to  the  humble  and  the  poor ;  severe 
towards  the  proud;  mild  in  his  soothings  of  a  wound- 
ed spirit ;  glowing  with  the  raptures  of  devotion,  and 
kindling  with  the  messages  of  redeeming  love ;  his 
eye,  voice,  gesture  and  whole  frame  animate  with  the 
living  vigor  of  a  heartfelt  religion;  public  spirited  and 
lavishly  charitable;  and  'though  persecutions  and 
banishments  had  awaited  him,  as  one  wave  follows 
another,'  ever  serenely  blest  with  a  '  glorious  peace  of 
soul ;'  fixed  in  his  trust  in  Providence,  and  his  adhe- 
sion to  that  cause  of  advancing  civilization  which  he 
cherished  always,  even  while  it  remained  to  him  a 
mystery.  This  was  he,  whom,  for  his  abilities  and 
services,  his  cotemporaries  placed  '  in  the  first  rank  of 
men,'  praising  him  as  '  the  one  rich  pearl  with  which 
Eiu:ope  more  than  repaid  America  for  the  treasures 
from  her  coast.'" 

With  this  testimony,  both  clerical  and  lay,  to  the 
character  of   Hooker,  we  cheerfully  coincide.     Fare- 


174 


HARTFORD. 


well,  Venerable  Saint !  Thou  art  in  heaven — sure ! 
Listen  a  moment  there  to  voices  now,  which,  in  the 
tones  of  infancy,  the  shouts  of  youth,  the  peal  of 
manhood,  and  the  whispers  of  age,  would  fain  make 
themselves  heard  in  thine  immortal  ear,  while,  in 
thanksgiving  to  thee,  and  thy  God,  and  their  God, 
they  pour  in  one  royal  song  from  twenty  thousand 
happy  Dwellers  in  the  Town  which  Thou  didst  found, 
and  where  thy  Spirit  lingers  still ! 

Sc^VA. 


fcirtfotir. 


ITS  CHIEF  FUNCTIONARIES— DOWN  TO  1650. 

No.  18. 

"  Who  the  prime  actors  of  that  olden  scene, 

So  full  of  purpose  high  and  faith  serene  ? 

Their  tireless  energy  most  surely  claims 

The  memory  of  at  least  their  names."  Anon. 

Who  did  it — a  question  momently  on  the  lips  of 
somebody  or  other  anxious  to  know  human  agents  in 
deeds  however  grave  or  trivial.  Put  for  any  purpose 
of  folly,  of  indolence,  or  of  sin,  and  it  is  a  question 
that  wastes  breath,  wastes  intellect,  and  wastes  char- 
acter. But  put  in  order  to  learn  the  authors  of  good 
deeds,  to  ascertain  those  particularly,  who,  in  Church 
and  State,  have  moved  the  machinery  of  society  and 
advanced  its  civilization,  it  is  then  the  question  of 
the  mind's  thirst — of  the  mind  panting  for  knowl- 
edge, for  that  which  we  may  love,  and  venerate,  and 
imitate,  and  think  upon — and  thoughts,  we  know,  "  are 
heard  in  heaven."  Of  augmented  interest  the  ques- 
tion under  this  view — deep,  lofty,  thrilling — when  it 
involves  those  personally  dear  to  us — when  it  sum- 
mons our  own  immediate  progenitors,  whose  blood 
throbs  in  our  own  veins,  the   Founders  of  our  own 


176  HARTFORD. 

family,  our  own  Town,  our  own  Commonwealth, 
when  it  summons  these 

"  To  breathe  the  enlivening  spirit,  and  to  fix 
The  generous  purpose  in  the  glowing  breast." 

Scaeva  has  had  occasion  akeady  to  notice  many  such 
in  his  history  of  the  founding  and  of  the  progress 
of  Hartford,  during  its  First  Period.  They  have 
been  welcome  visitors,  we  trust,  to  the  Dwellers  in 
this  Town.  However  faint  the  traces  of  them  which 
Time  has  spared,  you,  and  you,  and  you,  Reader, 
can  not  have  failed  to  recognize  in  them  some  of 
your  own  lineaments,  for  they,  the  parents  of  Hart- 
ford, were  your  parents  too, 

"  And  worthy  seem;  for  in  their  looks 
The  image  of  their  glorious  Maker  shone, 
Truth,  wisdom,  sanctitude  severe  and  pure — 
Whence  ti"ue  authority  in  men." 

Far  as  we  could  describe,  you  have  seen  the  ivork  of 
our  Town  for  its  first  fourteen  years.  Who  now,  be- 
sides those  with  whose  names  you  are  abeady  famil- 
iar, performed  this  work  ?  As  chief  instruments,  as 
the  trusted  agents  of  the  primitive  community,  ivho 
did  it?  We  can  show  you,  in  civil  life,  nearly 
all — the  town's  Selectmen,  its  Clerk,  its  Constables, 
and  its  members  of  the  General  Court — and  this  we 
propose  to  do.  But  alas  it  is  with  their  names  alone? 
save  in  a  case  or  two,  that  we  can  deal.  Aught  in 
the  shape  of  their  biography  is  in  most  instances  im- 
possible, for  we  can  pluck  nothing  scarcely  from  the 
'  wallet'  which  Time,  "  on  his  broad  pinions  swifter 


ITS    CHIEF    FUNCTIONARIES.  177 

than  the  wind,"  carries  at  his  back.     Would  that  we 
could ! 

Who  then,  first,  were  the  Selectmen,  in  the  Period 
upon  which  we  dwell?  For  the  sake  of  complete- 
ness we  shall  give  the  names  of  all  that  we  can  ascer- 
tain, whether  they  have  been  mentioned  in  former 
Articles,  or  not,  and  in  the  order  so  far  as  is  practica- 
ble, of  the  years  of  their  service. 

Previous  to  1639,  we  find  the  names  of  but  three, 
viz. :  John  Talcott,  William  Wadsworth,  and  Samuel 
Wakeman. 

In  1639,  and  after,  down  to  1650,  they  are  recorded 
as  follows : 

In  1639,  William  Weshvood,  William  Spencer,  Na- 
thaniel Ward,  and  John  Moody. 

In  1640,  William.  Pantry,  Andreiv  Bacon,  John  Hop- 
kins, and  William  Laives. 

In  1641,  John  White,  John  Pratt,  Richard  Goodman, 
and  Joseph  Myg-att. 

In  1642,  William  Wadsivorfh,  Timothy  Stanley, 
Thomas  Hosmer,  and  William.  Gibbins. 

In  1648,  John  Gullet,  John  Talcott,  Nathaniel  Ely, 
and  George  Steele. 

In  1644,  Nathaniel  Ward,  Richard  Lord,  Nathaniel 
Richards,  and  John  Barnard. 

In  1645,  William  Pantry,  John  White,  Gregory 
Witter  ton  and  William  Laives. 

In  1646,  William  Westioood,  Richard  Goodman, 
Thomas  Hosmer,  and  Joseph  Mygatt. 

In    1647,    Nathaniel     Ward,    William     Wadsivorth, 
Edioard  Stebbing,  and  George  Stocking. 
23 


178  HARTFORD. 

In  1648,  John  Talcott,  Richard  Webb,  John  Bar- 
nard, and  Richard  Butler. 

In  1649,  John  Wilcox,  George  Graves,  Nathaniel 
Ely,  and  William  Phillips. 

The  Town  Clerkship,  from  the  establishment  of 
the  office  in  1639,  down  to  1650,  remained  in  the 
hands  of  John  Steele.  This  same  individual  filled  the 
same  office  also  for  Farmington,  from  the  commence- 
ment of  this  Town  about  1645,  down  through  the 
First  Period  of  our  History,  Mx.  Steele  having  been, 
by  the  General  Court,  particularly  "  intreated  for  the 
present  to  be  recorder,  there,  untill  the  Towne  have 
one  fitt  among  themselves."  The  constant  Represen- 
tative of  Hartford  in  the  General  Court  till  his  re- 
moval to  Farmington,  well  informed,  a  man  of  busi- 
ness, judicious,  grave,  godly — such  was  John  Steele. 

We  trust  that  upon  this  announcement  our  present 
Town  Clerk,  with  all  the  reverence  due  to  the  stock 
from  which  he  is  officially  descended,  will  pause  over 
that  desk  where,  honest,  industrious  gentleman,  he  is 
ever  at  work,  and  turn  to  contemplate  his  great  Orig- 
inal, and  the  glorious  legacy  he  has  left  to  his  success- 
or of  personal  worth,  and  pious  devotion,  and  clerical 
ability.  We  doubt  not  that  he  will — that  he  often 
does — for  somewhere,  prominent  on  a  page  of  one  of 
the  volumes  of  Town  Records,  not  far  from  the  tall 
desk  over  which  he  bends,  is  WTitten  the  following 
reference — Jeremiah,  Chap,  xxxii.,  vs.  9,  10,  11,  12. 
Ah ! — the  Clerk  that  thus  calls  in  the  Bible,  as  well  as 
man,  to  legitimate  his  vocation,  and  inspire  him  with 
a  sense  of  responsibility — true  descendant  of  John 
Steele  must  he  surely  be !     Little  did  we  dream  be- 


ITS      CHIEF      FUNCTIONARIES.  179 

fore  that  the  Town  had  in  him  so  devout  an  officer — 
yet  here  we  find  him  tracing  his  pedigi-ee  back  to 
Jeremiah's  time — back  to  "  Barnch  the  son  of  Ne- 
riah,  the  son  of  JMaaseiah" — and  invoking  the  spirit 
"which  [was]  in  the  country  of  Benjamin,"  thou- 
sands of  years  ago,  to  preside  over  his  pen  while  he 
takes  the  '  evidences,  this  evidence  of  purchase,'  and 
that,  and  that,  and  another,  and  all  that  he  can  get, 
and  'puts  them' — no  not,  like  Baruch,  'in  an  earthen 
vessel,'  but  in  a  Book,  "  that  they  may  continue  many 
days  I"  We  congratulate  the  Town  that  it  has  a 
Clerk  who  possesses  so  godly  a  spirit — that 

"  With  him  Gospel  and  Deeds  each  has  its  column — 
His  head  an  index  to  the  sacred  volume  ; 
His  very  name  a  title  page;  and  next 
His  life  a  commtntary  on  the  texV 

The  Constables  of  Hartford,  down  to  1639,  those 
of  ^vhom  we  can  find  mention,  ^vere  two  only,  viz. : 
Samuel  Wakeman  and  Jeremy  Adams.  Subsequent  to 
these,  and  down  to  1650,  were — in  1639,  Nathaniel 
Ely  and  Thomas  Hosmer — in  1610,  Thomas  Olcott 
and  Arthur  Smith — in  1641,  Nathan  Richards  and 
Stephen  Post — in  1642,  Richard  Lord  and  Gregory 
Wilterton,  the  latter  a  man  who  was  born  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Bess,  who  used  -to  tell  stories  to  the 
Settlers  about  the  "  Virgin  Queen,"  and  who  now  lies 
interred,  with  a  monument  above  him,  behind  the 
Centre  Church — in  1643,  Thomas  Stanton  and  Wit- 
Ham  Hills — in  1644,  John  Pratt  and  Nathaniel  Wil- 
lett — in  1645,  we  have  no  record  of  any — in  1646, 
William     Gibbins   and    Richard    Olmstead — in   1647, 


180 


HARTFORD. 


Thomas  Stanley  and  Thomas  Burr — in  1648,  William 
Pantry  and  James  Ensign — and  in  1649,  Nathaniel 
Richards  and  Thomas  Selden. 

Of  the  above,  Samuel  Wakeman  deserves  particular 
notice,  as  having  been  the  first  Constable  of  Hartford, 
and  consequently  the  great  progenitor  of  all  who, 
since  his  time,  have  wielded  in  our  Town  and  City 
the  staff  of  constabular  authority.  He  received  his 
appointment  April  26th,  1636,  with  two  other  officers 
like  himself,  one  for  Windsor  and  one  for  Wethers- 
fiel'd,  in  the  first  General  Court  held  in  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut.  He  was  also  one  of  our  earliest  Select- 
men. He  enjoyed  the  special  confidence  of  our  prim- 
itive Legislature,  for  with  George  Hubbard  he  was 
appointed  by  this  Body  to  survey  and  report  upon  the 
breadth  of  the  whole  township  of  Windsor,  and  with 
the  addition  of  Ancient  Stoughton  for  a  colleague, 
was  directed  to  perform  the  same  duty  for  Wethers- 
field.'  Their  joint  report  settling  the  bounds  of  these 
early  sisters  of  Hartford,  and  moreover  extending 
their  territory,  on  the  east  side  of  Connecticut  River, 
three  miles  to  the  eastward,  was  at  once  accepted  and 
confirmed  by  the  General  Court.  So  Windsor  and 
Wethersfield  thank  Samuel  Wakeman^  among  others, 
for  your  primitive  consequence  in  acres !  Revere  the 
memory  of  one  who  took  at  once  a  three-mile  stride 
to  enlarge  your  territorial  domain — and  shed  a  tear  of 
pity  over  the  fact  that  early  as  1646,  after  being  per- 
mitted to  regale  his  senses  with  but  a  few  roses  only 
in  the  wilderness  which  he  was  aiding  to  make  bud 
and  blossom,  he  fell  a  victim  to  death,  and  left  a  son 


ITS      CHIEF      FUNCTIONARIES, 


181 


and  three  daughters  to  the  meagre  patrimony,  appar- 
ently, but  of  ninety  pounds,  and  to  the  cold  charity  of 
the  world ! 

May  his  lineal  official  successors,  of  this  day,  in 
our  Town,  all  share  his  worth,  but  oh  not  his  pecuni- 
ary fate  I  To  die  and  leave  to  three  daughters  and  a 
son  but  ninety  pounds — not  enough,  scarcely,  to  last 
"  the  best  blood  chambered  in  one's  bosom"  for  six 
moons !  Why  our  own  Sheritf  Waterman  could  not 
lift  his  sinewy  arm  in  duty,  or  sound  his  stentorian 
voice,  with  the  prospect,  when  Sheriff  Death  attaches 
him,  and  Constables  the  Worms  levy  on  his  stalwart 
body,  of  leaving  but'Wakeman's  pittance  only  to  his 
bright  babies  two !  Nor  could  brave  Deputy  Alden 
do  his  duty — with  no  babies  at  all !  The  solemn 
melody  of  the  Riot  Act  would  never  again,  as  recent- 
ly, thrill  on  his  neatly-chiselled  lips !  Nor  could  even 
anu  Constable  endure  the  prospect  of  Wakeraan's 
fate  I  Too  sure  it  would  be,  at  once,  with  the  film  of 
blindness  to  seal  up  both  his  eyes !  Too  sure  in  a 
moment  to  paralyze  his  ministerial  hand — ^that  Hand 
which,  stretched  ever  out  in  the  sunlight  of  fees, 
when  but  touched  by  the  spring  of  a  warrant  or  a 
WTit,  and  sometimes  when  untouched  by  the  spring  of 
either,  clutches  like  the  quick  grasp  of  Fate,  and  with 
an  iron  and  remorseless  hug,  squeezes  both  the  collars 
and  the  dollars  of  all  the  subjects,  liege  or  not  liege, 
of  her  Majesty  the  Law! 

But  to  go  on  with  our  '  prime  actors.'  Who,  dur- 
ing the  First  Period,  were  the  Members  of  the  Gener- 
al Court  from  Hartford,  either  as  Magistrates  or  Dep- 


182  HARTFORD. 

uties?*  Prior  to  the  Constitution  of  1639,  they  were 
John  Steele^  William,  Westuwod,  Thomas  Welles,  Wil- 
liam Whiting,  John  Webster,  John  Talcott,  John  Hai/nes, 
John  Hopkins  and  Andrew  Bacon. 

The  Members  after  the  Constitution  of  1639,  and 
down  to  1650,  were  as  follows :  1.  John  Haijnes,  Mag- 
istrate during  the  whole  Period,  and  who  was  six 
times  elected  Governor,  and  three  times  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor. 2.  Edward  Hopkins,  Magistrate  during  the 
whole  Period,  and  who  was  four  times  elected  Gov- 
ernor, and  four  times  Deputy  Governor.  3.  George 
Wyllys,  Magistrate  for  a  few  years,  six  only,  but  con- 
stantly in  office  till  he  died  in'  1644.  He  was  once 
elected  Governor,  and  once  Deputy  Governor.  4. 
Thomas  Welles,  Magistrate  during  the  whole  Period, 
and  most  of  this  time  either  Secretary  or  Treasurer 
of  the  Colony.  5.  John  Webster,  akvays  a  Magis- 
trate. 6.  William  Whiting,  Magistrate  for  seven 
years,  and  for  several  years  also  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Colony.  7.  John  Cullick,  Magistrate  and  Secretary 
of  the  Colony  for  two  years,  and  three  years  a  Depu- 
ty. 8.  Jolin  Steele,  during  the  whole  Period  a  Depu- 
ty. 9.  John  Talcott,  the  same.  10.  Andreiv  Bacon, 
seven  years  a  Deputy.  11.  William  Westivood,  five 
years  a  Deputy.  12.  Edioard  Stcbbing,  five  years  a 
Deputy.  13.  John  Pratt,  two  years  a  Deputy.  14. 
William  Spenser,  two  years  a  Deputy. 

*  Our  arrangement  apparently  limits  the  service  of  those  whom  we  men- 
tion to  the  close  of  1649.  This  to  us  is  a  matter  of  convenience,  but  it  is  not 
to  be  understood  that  their  term  of  service,  did,  of  course,  thus  expire. 
Many  served  after,  and  some  long  after  1650,  as  our  Readers  will  have  occa- 
sion to  see,  when  we  '  set  foot'  upon  the  Second  Period  of  our  Town  HistorJ^ 


ITS      CHIEF      FUNCTIONARIES.  183 

The  names  we  have  given  in  the  present  Article, 
show  the  direct  ancestors  of  a  wonderfully  large 
brood  of  bipeds,  who  walk  about  our  streets  to-day^ 
and  snuff  the  air,  and  perhaps  care  not  a  fig  whether 
they  are  descended  from  a  man  of  consequence,  a 
monkey,  or  a  donkey.  We  trust,  however,  they  may 
feel  far  otherwise.     Reader,  awake  thy  spirit! 

"  Think  through  whom 
Thy  life-blood  tracks  its  parent  lake, 
And  then  strike  home !" 

Sc^VA. 


prtforlr. 


ITS  CIVIL  HISTORY  — FROM  1650    TO    1665. 
PERIOD   SECOND. 

No.  19. 

"  Instructed  by  the  antiquary  times, 
He  must,  he  is,  he  cannot  but  be  wise." 

Shakspeare. 

"  We  love  to  feel  within  us  the  bond  which  unites  the  most  distant  eras. 
Men,  nations,  customs  perish;  the  affections  are  immortal!  they  are  the 
sympathies  which  unite  the  ceaseless  generations ;  the  past  lives ;  when  we 
look  upon  its  emotions,  it  lives  in  our  own.  It  is  the  magician's  gift,  that  re- 
vives the  dead,  that  animates  the  dust  of  forgotten  graves.  This  is  not  the 
author's  skill — it  is  in  the  heart  of  the  reader." 

Last  Days  of  Pompeii. 

Again,  Hartford  ho!  Are  you  ready,  Reader,  for 
another  bout?  We  have  given  you  digestion-time, 
breathing-time,  after  having  carried  you  through  the 
First  Period  of  our  Town  History.  We  trust  our 
Quill  Horse  drew  you  along  safely,  profitably,  nay 
sweetly  to  yourself — that  you  have  discovered  no  flaw 
in  his  primitive  harness,  and  no  fracture  in  his  ancient 
chariot.  If  you  have,  "  Old  Grub,  time  out  of  mind " 
the  antiquarian's  as  well  as  the  "  fairies  coachmaker," 
has  refitted  us,  and  we  are  ready  for  another  start. 
The  way  is  before  us,  and  the  signboard  says  "  Road 
24 


186 


HARTFORD, 


THROUGH  Hartford  from  1650  to  1665 — Period 
Second."  The  Chariot  door  is  open.  Jump  in — and 
may  yon  have  a  pleasant  ride ! 

First  then,  let  us  take  a  general  view  of  the  Period 
over  which  we  are  to  journey.  It  is  one,  Reader, 
marked,  in  Colonial  affairs,  by  collisions  and  difficul- 
ties with  the  Dutch  and  Indians ;  by  the  final  settle- 
ment, at  a  cost  in  the  whole  of  about  two  thousand 
pounds,  of  the  contract  with  IVIr.  Fenwick  in  relation 
to  the  Fort  at  Saybrook  and  the  Right  of  Jurisdic- 
tion; by  an  amicable  adjustment  concluding  the  trib- 
ute from  the  Pequots ;  by  the  arrival  of  three  of  the 
regicide  judges  of  Charles  the  First,  and  by  the  pro- 
curement of  that  Charter  of  civil  government  under 
which  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  united,  and,  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  years,  ran  a  happy,  and  in 
the  main  a  prosperous  career.  The  Dutch,  ever  disaf- 
fected with  the  encroachments,  as  they  deemed  them, 
of  the  Settlers  here,  with  their  vigilant  industry,  with 
their  activity  particularly  in  commerce,  and  with  their 
acquisition  of  new  territory  and  creation  of  new 
towns,  and  offended  too  by  their  noble  spirit  of  pride, 
and  by  that  portion  of  their  policy,  especially,  which 
forbade  foreigners  to  trade  with  the  Indians  in  their 
vicinity,  annoyed  them  with  claims,  menaced  them, 
and  endangered  them  by  acts  of  violence.  They 
plotted  darkly  for  their  entire  extirpation.  It  was  a 
fearful  conspiracy — countenanced  too,  there  is  some 
reason  to  apprehend,  by  Stuyvesant  himself,  and  cer- 
tainly most  warmly  nursed  by  his  bosom  friend,  that 
'  common  pest  of  the  Colonies,'  the  wily  and  implaca- 
ble   Ninigrate.      A   Dutch    fleet   was    expected   from 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY.  187 

abroad  to  join  it,  and  a  day,  one  Election  Day,  was 
supposed  to  have  been  fixed  for  a  general  massacre. 
The  Dutch  too  seized  and  imprisoned  English  Set- 
tlers upon  Long  Island  and  at  Delaware  Bay,  or 
drove  them  away.  In  some  instances  they  burned 
their  trading-houses — detained  their  goods — laid  op- 
pressive imposts — and  bought  goods  stolen  from 
the  English.  They  harbored  fugitives  from  justice. 
They  helped  criminals  to  file  off  their  irons  and  es- 
cape. In  Hartford  particularly  they  made  their  Fort 
on  the  Point  a  sanctuary  for  runaway  servants  and 
for  felons — and  while  thus  the  Dutch,  in  various  ways, 
were  committing,  in  the  language  of  the  times,  '  high 
and  hostile  injuries,'  Ninigrate  was  attacking  Indians, 
particularly  on  Long  Island,  who  were  in  alliance 
with  the  English,  and  on  many  occasions  threatened 
and  plundered  the  white  inhabitants  of  Connecticut. 
He  laid  claim  to  the  Pequot  country.  He  was  per- 
petually quarrelling  with  Uncas,  and  Uncas  with 
him,  and  Uncas,  proud  and  mischievous,  with  the 
Podunks. 

In  consequence  of  all  these  circumstances,  during 
the  first  four  years  particularly  of  the  Second  Period, 
there  was  much  alarm,  much  public  excitement,  and 
depression  in  the  business  and  prospects  generally  of 
the  settlements  upon  the  Connecticut.  Agriculture, 
the  great  resource,  was  hindered,  and  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  to  render  it  necessary  in  1652,  in  1654,  and 
again  in  1662,  specially  to  supervise,  now  to  restrict, 
and  now  to  prohibit  entirely  the  exportation  of  pro- 
visions, save  for  '  some  public  concernments.'     Exten- 


188 


HARTFORD. 


sive  and  expensive  preparations  were  made  for  de- 
fence. Plans  for  raising  troops,  at  one  time  for  rais- 
ing five  hundred,  were  set  afoot,  and  partly  carried  in- 
to effect,  and  war  would  actually  have  occurred  but 
for  the  unwise  and  wholly  unjustifiable  opposition  of 
Massachusetts.  A  frigate  of  ten  or  twelve  guns  was 
kept  cruising  in  the  Sound,  to  protect  the  coast,  and 
to  prevent  Ninigrate  from  crossing  to  Long  Island. 
All  Indians  ^vere  sedulously  watched.  People  ^vere 
worn  down  with  the  labor  of  guarding — and  this 
state  of  things  continued  till,  in  1654,  four  or  five 
ships,  sent  out  from  England  by  Cromwell  to  reduce 
the  Dutch,  arrived  at  Boston,  the  Dutch  establishment 
in  Hartford  was  sequestered,  and  the  total  defeat  of 
Tromp's  fleet  compelled  Holland  to  sue  for  peace. 
Nor  ^vas  the  relief  then  afforded  complete.  Embar- 
rassment still  continued  till,  at  the  close  of  our  Sec- 
ond Period,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  uniting  un- 
der the  Charter  in  one  Assembly,  the  bounds  of  the 
Colony  were  settled,  the  Dutch  of  New  York  became 
English  subjects,  and  the  people,  all,  as  in  the  Procla- 
mation at  this  time  for  a  Thanksgiving  is  expressed, 
praised  "  the  Supreme  Benefactor  for  the  blessings  of 
liberty,  health,  peace,  and  plenty." 

Hartford,  of  course,  shared  largely  in  the  events  to 
which  we  have  briefly  alluded.  Leading  town,  as  it 
was,  in  numbers,  wealth,  and  influence,  seat  of  gov- 
ernment and  centre  of  political  correspondence  and 
negotiations,  as  it  was,  its  inhabitants  found  much  in 
these  events  to  give  them  peculiar  anxiety,  much  to 
throw  a  cloud  at  times  over  their  prospects,  much  to 
retard  their  prosperity,  but  much,  after  all,  firm  people 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY.  189 

as  they  were,  hoping  on,  hoping  ever,  to  stimulate 
them  to  wise  thoughtfuhiess  and  active  exertion. 
The  amount  for  taxation  which  our  Town  had  on  the 
Colonial  Grand  List  for  1651,  was  22,404  pounds  and 
19  shillings.  Its  amount,  for  the  same  purpose,  was 
less  than  this  every  succeeding  year  down  to  1665, 
and  in  1664,  was  but  19,365  pounds,  and  18  shil- 
lings— showing  an  actual  diminution  between  the  be- 
ginning and  end  of  the  Second  Period,  of  three 
thousand  and  thirty-nine  pounds  and  one  shilling — a 
fact  which  plainly  indicates,  so  far  as  regards  the  pe- 
cuniary prosperity  of  the  Town,  the  presence  of  re- 
tarding causes.  We  have  pointed  them  out,  the 
principal  ones.  But  in  spite  of  all  discouragements, 
the  Settlers  stuck  bravely  to  their  new  home,  and  la- 
bored for  its  improvement.     Their's  were 

"  spirits  prompt  to  vimlertake, 
And  not  soon  spent,  though  in  an  arduous  cause." 

Let  us  see  what  they  did,  and  to-day,  as  first  in  our 
plan  of  examination,  let  us  look  at  their  civil  organi- 
zation, in  part  only,  however,  in  the  present  Article, 
during  the  Period  upon  which  we  dwell. 

Were  any  changes  made  in  their  municipal  policy  ? 
None,  we  answer,  of  any  fundamental  importance. 
A  few  new  offices  were  created,  and  of  course  new 
officers  were  added.  Selectmen,  chosen  annually  two 
from  the  north  and  two  from  the  south  side  of  the 
Riveret,  still  continued,  as  chief  functionaries,  to  or- 
der the  affairs  of  the  Town.  John  Steele,  the  Town 
Clerk,  continued  to  discharge  his  duties,  till,  in  1651, 
he  was  succeeded  by    William  Andrews,  the  former 


190 


HARTFORD. 


schoolmaster,  and  Andrews  in  turn,  in  1655,  by  John 
Allen,  and  Allen  in  turn,  in  1664,  by  another  John 
Steele,  the  son  doubtless  of  the  first  Recorder.  Con- 
stables, Committees,  Fence  and  Chimney- Viewers, 
and  Sealers  of  weights  and  measures,  went  on  as 
usual.  The  Town  Guard  was  all  the  while  carefully 
kept  up — and  it  was  provided  that  every  person  of 
able  body,  not  specially  exempted  by  law,  should  act 
in  it,  or  procure  a  sitbstitute,  twelve  pence  a  year  be- 
ing allowed  each  man,  in  addition  to  wages,  for  re- 
pairing his  arms.  The  Special  Guard  for  the  Meet- 
ing House,  consisting  usually  of  ten  men,  was  con- 
tinued, and  in  addition  to  former  powers  was  author- 
ized, through  its  chief  sentinel  and  sergeant,  to  com- 
pel both  boys  and  men  who,  thoughtless  of  worship, 
lounged  without,  to  go  within  the  sanctuary.  A  spe- 
cial guard  also  was  created  for  the  Governor,  with  an 
allowance  particularly  of  half  a  pound  of  powder  to 
a  man  upon  Election  Day,  and  with  the  restriction  of 
never  leaving  duty  but  by  permission  from  his  Excel- 
lency. This  is  the  first  mention  in  our  history  of  any 
particular  military  organization  for  the  protection  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  Connecticut,  and  is  doubt- 
less the  origin,  in  principle,  of  each  of  the  Companies 
which  at  present,  in  each  of  our  Capitals,  here  and  in 
New  Haven,  are  known  and  act  as  the  Governor's 
Guard.  Thus  "  majesty  doth  hedge  in  a  king,"  and 
sentinels  do 

"  wear  upon  their  chins 
The  beards  of  Hercules  and  frowning  Mars" — 

properly    enough,    perhaps,    provided   the   king    doth 


ITS      CIVIL     HISTORY.  191 

dress  himself  with  such  humility  as  to  '  pluck  allegi- 
ance from  men's  hearts,'  and  provided  the  Majesty  of 
the  People  doth  '  hedge  in'  all ! 

To  the  officers  formerly  existing  were  added,  in  the 
Second  Period,  a  Toivn  Treasurer^  Sealers  of  Leath- 
er, Custom  blasters,  Custodiers  of  the  Meeting  House, 
Packers,  and  a  Brander  of  Horses. 

The  duty  of  the  Treasurer,  or  '■Husband  for  the 
Toivn,''  was  "  to  preserve  the  Town  Stock."  The 
first  person  chosen  to  this  office  was  Ensign  John 
Talcott,  in  1659. 

The  duty  of  Sealers  of  Leather  was  carefully  to 
examine  the  article  with  which  they  were  charged, 
and,  if  found  good,  to  place  upon  it  an  official  seal. 
The  law  requued  that  leather  should  be  '  sufficient  in 
all  points.'  It  was  not,  in  the  first  place,  to  have 
been  gashed  or  cut  in  the  hide.  Did  any  butcher,  or 
other  person,  inflict  such  injury,  in  flaying  any  ox, 
bull,  steer  or  cow,  each  gash  cost  him  a  twelvepence. 
The  hide,  in  the  next  place,  was  not  to  be  put  into 
any  oozes  where  it  should  '  take  any  unkinde  heates/ 
under  a  penalty  of  twenty  pounds.  Woe  to  the  tan- 
ner if  he  spoiled  it  by  any  '  evell  workmanship  or 
handleing'  whatever — its  forfeiture  in  this  case  was 
certain.  The  liquors  of  his  vat  were  to  be  of  the 
best  quality  and  quantity.  He  was  thoroughly  to 
understand,  and  thoroughly  to  practice  the  whole 
*  mistery  or  faculty  of  curreing.'  It  ^vas  the  business 
of  the  Leather  Sealer  to  see  that  he  did — to  '  search 
and  view'  his  premises  for  this  purpose — to  submit 
his  hides  to  skilful  triers  when  doubt  existed  as  to 
their  goodness — to  seize  the  bad  ones  for  forfeiture — 


192  HARTFORD. 

to  mark  the  good  ones  with  all  'convenient  speed'  for 
sale  and  use — and  putting  into  his  pocket  for  his  ser- 
vices "two  pence  per  hide  for  every  number  under 
five"  that  he  sealed,  and  "twelve  pence  for  every 
dicker,"  or  ten  hides,  he  was  to  take  care  that  "  the 
severall  members  of  the  Commonwealth,"  to  use  the 
language  of  the  old  law,  suffered  no  "  abuses  or  in- 
conveniences" from  the  tanners  of  the  day,  or  from 
their  connecting  links  the  butchers — in  short,  like  the 
old  Roman  Dictator,  was  to  see  that  the  Republic  re- 
ceived no  detriment,  as  regards  at  least  its  under- 
standing. Another  example  this  of  that  sumptuary 
legislation  which  we  have  heretofore  had  occasion  to 
notice — miJd  however,  very,  in  comparison  with  that, 
on  the  same  subject,  which  filled  the  Statute  Books 
of  England,  and  oil  of  roses,  as  well  as  of  good  oak- 
bark,  compared  with  the  absurd  and  tyrannous  Leath- 
er Laws  of  James  the  First.  It  may  have  been  use- 
ful, perhaps,  in  its  day,  but,  tried  now,  would  probab- 
ly result  in  the  '  tanning'  of  Leather  Sealers,  instead 
of  the  tanning  of  skins,  and  produce  '  hidings'  instead 
of  hides. 

But  to  return.  Custom  Masters  were  to  collect  du- 
ties on  wines,  liquors,  and  some  of  the  time  on  tobac- 
co brought  into  the  Colony,  till  1662,  when  all  former 
orders  imposing  customs  were  repealed,  and  '  free 
trade'  Avas  established  '  in  all  places  in  this  Colony.' 
The  first  officer  of  this  description  in  Hartford  was, 
in  1659,  Jonathan  Gilbert — a  leading  man — a  man 
who  was  extensively  engaged  in  the  trade  and  coast- 
ing business  of  the  Town — whose  warehouse  figured 
at  the  Landing:  Place — and  who  was  honored  with 


ITS     CIVIL     HISTORY.  193 

the  office  of  Marshal,  or  High  Sheriff  of  the  young 
Colony.  Custodiers  of  the  Meeting  House  are  suffi- 
ciently explained  by  their  title.  The  duty  of  a  Pack- 
er was  to  "  pack  and  unpack  all  such  meat  as  [was] 
sent  forth  of  the  Townes,"  and  to  mark  each  barrel 
with  the  letters  C :  R :  *  The  Brander  of  Horses  was 
an  officer,  it  is  implied  from  the  Records,  of  much 
importance,  since  we  find  his  marks,  as  well  as  the  . 
color  and  age  of  horses,  in  the  case  of  all  these  ani- 
mals that  were  exported,  were  to  be  carefully  record- 
ed by  the  Town  Clerk,  under  a  penalty  of  twenty 
pounds,  and  the  Clerk  was  to  receive  sixpence  for 
each  entry. 

And  now,  Reader,  in  conclusion,  let  us  pause  a  mo- 
ment over  one  town  functionary  whose  official  dignity 
exph-ed  in  the  Period  upon  which  we  dwell.  We 
have  not  hitherto  introduced  him  to  the  Public,  as  the 
entries  respecting  him,  misplaced  in  the  Records,  are 
found  mingled  with  the  entries  of  the  year  1663. 
Know  him  then  now,  Reader — the  Chimney  Siveeper 
of  the  Town !  What  shall  we  say  of  him  ?  Noth- 
ing by  way  of  describing  his  business — this  is  plain. 
But  who  was  he  ?  One  of  those  "  dim  specks,  poor 
blots,  innocent  blacknesses,"  of  whom  Elia  speaks, 
"  such  as  come  forth  with  the  dawn,  or  somewhat 
earlier,  with  their  little  professional  notes  sounding 
like  the  peep-peep  of  a  young  sparrow  ?"  Marry,  no, 
he  was  not — though,  but  for  the  dignity  of  his  ap- 
pointment, he  might  have  been,  for  the  sable  sons  of 
Ham  were  in  our  Town  at  the  time  of  which   we 

*  Connecticut  River — probably. 

25 


194  HARTFORD. 

speak,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show  hereafter, 
and  doubtless,  therefore,  there  were  some  petit  Ham- 
ites,  '  blooming  through  their  first  nigritude,'  who 
were  just  fitted,  of  course,  to  ease  chimneys  of  their 
overcharged  secretions,  so  that  fires  might  "  curl  up  a 
lighter  volume  to  the  welkin."  But  the  Sweep  of 
Hartford  was  of  the  veritable  Caucasian  blood — he 
was  white — a  white  citizen — and  he  was  appointed 
first  in  1639 — formally  appointed.  He  was  no  worth- 
less accident — no  mere  vagrant  creation  of  smoke 
and  vapors — but  a  Town  functionary,  as  we  have  en- 
titled him.  His  empire  over  chimneys  was  munici- 
pal. His  sooty  sovereignty  was  an  extract  from  or- 
ganization, and  his  name  was  John  Gunnings.  Lank, 
lathy  and  lanceolated  in  shape,  doubtless  he  was,  to 
suit  his  vocation — a  very  'chit'  too,  just  fitted  to  en- 
ter the  favces  averni,  the  fuliginous  jaws  of  combus- 
tion's throats.  Pursue  him  now  in  imagination. 
Reader,  as  Charles  Lamb  pursues  his  '  chit'-sweep  in 
London,  on  where  he  goes  sounding  through  the 
'dark,  stifling  caverns,  horrid  shades'  of  Hartford's 
first  chimneys !  Shudder  with  the  idea  that  "now, 
surely,  he  must  be  lost  forever!  Hevive  at  hearing 
his  feeble  shout  of  discovered  daylight — and  then,  oh, 
fulness  of  delight,  run  out  of  doors  just  in  time  to  see 
the  sable  phenomenon  emerge  in  safety,  the  brand- 
ished weapon  of  his  art  victorious  like  some  flag 
waved  over  a  conquered  citadel ! " 

We'll  leave  you.  Reader,  looking  at  him  and  listen- 
ing, as  did  Elia,  while  from  his  little  pulpit,  the  chim- 
ney top,  in  the  nipping  air  of  the  morning,  he  "preach- 
es a  lesson  of  patience  to  mankind  I"  Sceva. 


iartfarlr. 


ITS   CIVIL   HISTORY   CONTINUED— PERIOD    SECOND. 


No.  20. 

"  What  constitutes  a  State  ? 

Men,  high-minded  men." 

Jones. 

"In  all  the  [American]  colonies,  where  the  rule  of  partible  inheritance 
prevailed,  estates  were  soon  parcelled  out  into  moderate  plantations  and 
farms ;  and  the  general  equality  of  property  introduced  habits  of  industry 
and  economj',  the  effects  of  which  are  still  visible  in  their  local  customs, 
institutions  and  public  policy." 

Judge  Story. 

We  have  seen,  in  former  Articles,  that  the  policy  of 
Hartford  in  regard  to  Inhabitants  was  watchful  and 
highly  conservative — that  while  the  Town  opened  its 
arms  to  the  good,  the  industrious,  and  the  faithful,  it 
refused  to  receive  the  idle,  the  dishonest,  and  the 
worthless,  and  at  the  same  time  shrank  from  embrac- 
ing those  whose  opinions  were  tainted  with  what  it 
deemed  adverse  to  the  interests  of  church  and  state. 
It  wanted  '  men,  high-minded  men'  to  constitute  its 
community — those  with  whom 

"  Sovereign  law,  the  State's  collected  will, 
Sits  empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill." 

Its  first  policy,  therefore,  in  regard  to  Inhabitants,  was 


196 


HARTFORD, 


steadfastly  pursued  during  its  Second  Period — ^tri- 
umphantly as  regards  their  formal  admission  by  a 
vote  of  the  people,  for  we  find  that  during  the  whole 
time,  so  far  as  the  Record  shows,  the  Town  extended 
this  privilege  to  but  eight  persons.  Its  bounty  in  this 
respect  was  bestowed  only  upon  Nathaniel  Lovering-, 
Joseph  Fitch,  Nathaniel  Kimberhj,  Jared  Spencer,  Tim- 
othy Nash,  John  Blackleach,  Jr.,  Hervey  Roe,  and 
Robert  Howard.  But  so  far  as  new  comers  and  mere 
residents  are  concerned,  the  efforts  of  the  Town  were 
not  so  successful  as  formerly  in  preventing  the  intro- 
duction of  many  that  were  exceptionable.  True  it 
now  and  then  formally  warned  such  to  depart.  True, 
now  and  then,  it  placed  householders  who  entertained 
them  under  bonds  to  secure  the  Town  against  dam- 
ages from  then-  residence  in  it.  True,  it  at  times 
prosecuted  these  bonds,  as  it  did  against  Joseph  Var- 
lett  for  '  his  prejudicial  and  offensive  carriage'  in  en- 
tertaining one  Boltas  and  his  jvife,  two  Dutch  strag- 
glers— compelling  him  to  pay  one  hundred  pounds  or 
stand  trial  at  the  Court.  True,  no\v  and  then,  it  of- 
fered bounties  to  troublesome  persons  if  they  would 
remove  from  the  Town,  as  it  did,  in  1664,  ten  pounds 
to  William  Kelsey  and  his  wife.  Yet  such  cases  of 
banishment,  and  of  the  enforcement  of  security,  and 
of  bounty  for  removal,  were  very  rare — three  or  four 
only  during  the  whole  Period. 

The  fact  is,  Hartford  had  already  become  a  sort  of 
El  Dorado  for  emigrants,  and  at  the  same  time  a  bee- 
hive from  which  new  settlements  took  their  rise.  At- 
tracted by  its  beautiful  location,  by  its  fertility,  its 
business,  its  good  order,  by  its  prospects    generally, 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY    CONTINUED.  197 

strangers  sought  it  with  eagerness,  and  many  of  these 
were  not  of  the  first  rank  as  to  character.  They 
came  in  such  numbers  in  1659,  and  with  such  feeble 
commendation  as  to  conduct,  nay  many  of  them 
with  such  positive  disqualifications  from  their  indo- 
lent or  vicious  habits,  as  to  call  for  a  new  precaution- 
ary Town  Act.  Hartford  wakes  up  suddenly  at  this 
time  to  the  dangers  from  such  persons,  from  their 
poverty,  their  evil  manners,  or  their  evil  opinions.  It 
pronounces  the  present  prejudice  and  damage  from 
this  source  to  be  great.  It  dreads  the  ill  consequen- 
ces which  in  the  future  are  ready  to  '  break  in' — and 
goes  on  to  forbid  any  one  from  entertaining  or  receiv- 
ing any  family,  person  or  persons  who  are  not  inhab- 
itants, and  from  renting  to  them  any  part  of  any 
dwelling,  '  without  consent  by  the  orderly  vote'  of  the 
Town,  under  penalty  of  five  pounds  a  month  for 
every  violation  of  this  order,  and  of  liability  for  all 
just  damages.  What  effect  this  prohibition  had  in 
checking  fresh  arrivals  does  not  appear.  Probably, 
however,  it  had  some — yet  not  enough  to  alter  the 
fact  that,  in  its  Second  Period,  Hartford  received 
quite  a  numerous'  addition  to  its  population  of  per- 
sons who,  though  not  admitted  inhabitants,  were  yet 
stated  residents — many,  doubtless,  promising  candi- 
dates for  all  the  civic  rights  of  freemen — some,  doubt- 
less, prone  to  invade  the  good  order  of  society — but 
all  breathing  the  air,  sharing  the  food,  housed  by  the 
dwellings,  subject  to  the  laws,  and  participating  in 
the  movement  of  this  primitive  settlement  on  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut. 

Among    the   rest   were,    singularly   enough — Jeivs. 


198 


HARTFORD. 


Yes,  even  here,  in  the  shadow  of  the  remote  primeval 
wilderness  of  the  New  "World,  and  in  the  company 
too  of  jealous  Puritan  emigrants,  w^ere  some  of  the 
sons  of  Abraham.  And  they  were  Israelites  who  do 
not  seem  to  have  profited  by  the  teachings  either  of 
Moses  or  the  prophets — for  one  of  them,  David  by 
name,  distinguished  himself  by  going  into  the  houses 
of  the  Settlers,  -when  the  heads  of  the  families  were 
absent,  and  practising  petty  tricks  of  trade  with  the 
children  in  order  to  secure  provisions,  and  for  this  and 
'  such  like  misdemeanors,'  was  fined  twenty  shil- 
lings— and  others,  1661,  prohibited  from  gaining  a 
settlement,  were  limited  in  their  sojourn  within  the 
Town,  in  The  house  of  John  Marsh,  to  the  period  of 
seven  months. 

Among  persons  too  who  lived  in  Hartford  during 
the  Period  under  consideration,  as  suggested  in  our 
last  Article,  were,  singularly  enough  also — Negroes — 
so  that,  in  view  of  the  whole  settlement,  Noah's  three 
sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet,  were  all  early  repre- 
sented. An  Act  of  the  General  Court,  1660,  orders 
that  "  neither  Indian  nor  Negar  servants  shall  be  re- 
quired to  traine,  watch  or  ward,  in  this  Colony." 
"Where  did  these  Blacks  come  from  ?  Not  from  En- 
gland with  the  Settlers  surely.  Nor  from  the  Dutch 
Colony  in  New  York — this  is  not  at  all  probable. 
But  doubtless  from  the  West  Indies,  brought  in  by 
some  vessels  trading  from  the  region  here  with  these 
Islands.  Were  they  slaves  ?  We  think  they  must 
have  been.  Slavery,  we  know,  existed  early  and  long 
in  Connecticut,  and  has  been  but  recently,  as  it  were, 
abolished,  but  we  did  not  expect  to  find  the  system 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY    CONTINUED.  199 

begun  so  far  back  as  it  seems  to  have  been.  Yet 
there  it  was,  doubtless,  in  the  very  infancy  of  our 
State.  And  negroes  were  treated  well,  we  feel  as- 
sured, though  made  cognizant,  as  were  all  servants, 
black  or  white,  of  the  inferiority  of  their  situation — 
for  the  Law,  in  set  terms,  in  these  times,  compelled 
their  services.  They  were  to  wait  most  '  industrious- 
ly' upon  their  masters.  Without  license  from  them, 
they  were  forbidden  to  '  give,  sell  or  truck'  any  com- 
modity whatever,  and  if,  being  suspected  of  evil  in- 
tentions, they  ran  away,  men,  and  boats,  and  pinna- 
ces, might  be  pressed,  at  the  public  charge,  to  pursue 
them  by  sea  and  land,  and  bring  them  back  '  by  force 
of  arms.' 

A  proud  people  these  Settlers  were — the  Leaders ! 
"With  all  their  true  love  for  liberty,  with  all  those 
blessings, 

"Those  charms  that  dazzle  and  endear,"     ' 

which  Freedom  pictured  here  in  the  New  World, 
they  were  socially  a  proud  people,  distinguishing  after 
all  the  '  blood  of  the  Howards'  from  all  other,  with  a 
pride  they  were  too  fresh  from  the  old  country  to  for- 
get, and  marking  out  ranks  in  their  own  community 
but  too  distinctly  by  their  titles  of  address.  Yet 
were  those  w^ho  thus  'felt  their  blood'  unadulterate  in 
their  manners,  and  humane  of  purpose.  They  had 
none  of  the  characteristics  whatever  of  your  modern 
parvenus — none.  They  were  no  rustics  misfitted  in 
silks,  and  misplaced  in  saloons.  No  flippant  criti- 
cism with  them  on  lower-class  contact  and  plebe- 
ian coarseness —  nor  any  lumbering  attempt  to  worm 


200  HARTFORD. 

themselves  into  the  favor  of  the  well  educated  by 
talking,  like  Pope's  Fribble, 

"  in  pretty  phrase, 
Of  geniu?,  and  of  taste,  of  players  and  plays." 

They  borrowed  no  adventitious  graces  from  the  '  al- 
mighty dollar!'  They  never,  in  pecuniary  prosperity, 
forgot  their  humble  acquaintances,  nor  deemed  a  poor 
relative  '  a  preposterous  shadow,'  or  'a  death's  head  at 
the  banquet.'  No — nothing  of  all  this  characterized 
the  pride  of  those  whom  we  commemorate.  It  was, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  pride  of  self-respect,  founded  on 
superior  intelligence  and  manners,  and  mingled  at  the 
same  time  with  a  sense  of  birth  and  connections 
higher  than  fell  to  the  lot  of  persons  in  general,  and 
which  the  tone  of  opinion,  in  the  days  of  which  we 
speak,  had  not  yet  quite  reduced  to  the  modern  demo- 
cratic platform.  But  let  their  ideas  of  social  position 
have  been  what  they  may,  it  is  true  that,  with  them 
all,  they  never  in  their  daily  life  and  conduct  forgot 
either  civility  or  kindness.  They  never  wittingly 
wounded  a  sensibility,  impaired  a  right,  or  inflicted  a 
wi'ong — for  stretching  over  every  person,  pillared  in 
the  radical  legislation  of  the  Colony,  segis  and  sun  to 
each  soul  that  throbbed  in  our  wilderness  township, 
were  the  gi*and  fundamental,  constitutional  provisions 
which  guarantied  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty  and 
property — and  in  forming  these  provisions  the  leading 
Settlers  themselves  were  the  chief  instruments. 

And  see,  in  this  connection,  how  not  only  those  of 
whom  we  have  just  spoken  particularly,  but  how  all 
the   Settlers  took  care  of  poor  inhabitants.     Towards 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY    COXTINUED.  201 

these  they  always  exercised  a  most  coramendable  lib- 
erality. For  these  they  always  carefully  provided. 
No  sick  or  impotent  person,  no  poverty-stricken 
'Goody  Kelley  and  her  child'  ever  went  unfurnished 
by  them  with  something  to  eat,  and  drink,  and  wear. 
Hartford  had  its  Toivn-House,  if  not  immediately, 
certainly  within  a  few  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
Town.  Its  Selectmen,  then  as  now,  had  the  over- 
sight of  paupers — could  place  them  out  to  labor,  and 
for  support — ^were  to  give  them,  as  now,  when  dead, 
'a  decent  burial' — in  short,  then  as  now,  in  the  case 
of  all  who  had  not  estate  sufficient  for  their  support, 
and  no  relations  of  sufficient  ability  who  were  obliged 
by  law  to  sustain  them,  were  to  provide  for  them  at 
the  public  expense.  Blessed  policy  that  thus,  at  the 
start  of  om-  Town,  combined  philanthropy  and  law  in 
relief  of  those  who  '  sore  pierced  by  wintry  winds,' 

"  shrink  in  the  sordid  hut 
Of  cheerless  poverty !" 

Let  us  take  a  brief  view  now  of  the  policy  of  the 
Town  in  regard  to  lands  and  heritages  during  its  Sec- 
ond Period.  It  was  the  same  fundamentally  with 
that  described  in  a  former  Paper.  It  involved  the 
same  easy,  republican  principles  of  tenure,  and  the 
same  facilities  of  acquisition,  ownership,  and  aliena- 
tion. It  continued  to  be  free  entirely  from  the  restric- 
tions, from  all  the  deadening  weight  of  feudalism, 
and  kept  on  nourishing  that  just  pride  of  property, 
and  that  high  sense  of  independence,  which  are  the 
necessary  concomitants  of  an  allodial  system,  and  the 

noble  marks  of  freedom.     Not  content  that  the  fea- 
26 


202  HARTFORD. 

tures  of  this  policy  should  remain,  as  they  were  for 
fourteen  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  Town,  un- 
written, the  Settlers  of  Hartford,  with  those  of  Wind- 
sor and  Wethersfield,  solemnly  installed  them  in  their 
Code  of  1650,  and  there  commanded,  in  terms  which 
at  once  laid  the  axe  to  the  root  of  possible  oppression, 
that  their  lands  and  heritages  should  "  be  free  from  all 
fines  and  licenses  upon  alienations,  and  from  all  heri- 
ots,  wardships,  liveries,  primer  seisins,  yeare,  day  and 
waste,  escheats  and  forfeitures,  upon  the  death  of 
parents  or  ancestors,  be  they  natural,  unnatural,  cas- 
ual or  judicial,  and  that  forever!" 

In  its  particular  legislation  with  regard  to  lands, 
Hartford  from  time  to  time  renewed  its  former  orders, 
and  kept  a  vigilant  eye  to  their  fulfillment.  It  still 
compelled  the  owners  of  home-lots,  within  twelve 
months  to  erect  suitable  buildings  thereon,  and  "  to 
maintain  them  sufficiently  in  a  comely  way."  It 
still  prevented  the  accumulation  of  many  lots  in  the 
same  hands.  Still  its  Selectmen  took  charge  of  the 
common  lands,  and  managed  them  as  before,  and 
let  out  the  Indian  ground  in  the  South  Meadow,  from 
year  to  year,  '  for  the  Town's  use,'  until,  in  1663,  with 
a  liberality  on  the  part  of  the  Town  which  is  praise- 
worthy, this  ground  was  distributed  to  those  native 
Indians  of  Hartford  who  had  remained  within  the 
municipal  limits. 

But  the  lands  of  Hartford  alone,  as  we  have  hereto- 
fore had  occasion  to  suggest,  did  not  satisfy  the  Set- 
tlers. They  were  continually  stretching  out  their 
hands  for  more,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  trade 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY    CONTINUED.  203 

and  settlement,  or  were  receiving  more,  many  of 
them,  in  reward  for  public  services.  And  the  General 
Court  gratified  their  wishes  and  its  own  in  this 
respect  freely.  It  gave  them  many  lands  at  various 
points  'within  the  liberties  of  Connecticut,'  where 
the  grants  would  not  '  prejudice'  any  existing  planta- 
tions— among  others  to  Jeremiah  Adams  three  hun- 
dred acres  of  upland  and  forty  of  meadow — to  John 
Talcott  and  John  AUyn  jointly,  six  hundred  acres  of 
upland  and  one  hundred  of  meadow — to  Matthew 
Allyn^  four  hundred  acres  of  upland  and  one  hundred 
of  meadow — to  Jonathan  Gilbert,  three  hundred  of 
upland  and  fifty  of  meadow — to  Governor  Hai/nes,  in 
addition  to  one  thousand  acres,  about  the  Pequot 
country,  granted  him  in  1643,  three  hundred  acres 
more,  in  1652,  of  meadow  and  upland  '  for  a  farm' — 
to  Joseph  Hai/nes,  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  up- 
land and  fifty  of  meadow — to  Richard  Lord,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  of  upland  and  fifty  of  meadow — to 
Ensign  Olmstead,  three  hundred  of  upland  and  forty 
of  meado"\v — to  Mrs.  Stone  and  her  son  Samuel  Stone, 
in  lieu  of  a  former  grant  to  the  husband  and  father, 
of  a  farm  for  "  his  good  service  to  the  country  both  in 
the  Pequot  War  and  since,"  five  hundred  acres  of  up- 
land and  fifty  or  sixty  of  meadow — and  to  Samuel 
Wyllys,  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  upland,  and 
fifty  of  meadow.  How  far  these  grants  were  im- 
proved does  not  particularly  appear.  That  most  of 
them  were,  however,  is  certain — and  also  that  in  this 
way  the  nuclei  of  new  towns  were  fixed  in  various 
portions  of  the  State.  Hartford  certainly  w^as,  in  its 
very  infancy,  a  remarkable  bee-hive  for   new   settle- 


204  HARTFORD. 

ments !  A  little  swarm  here,  one  there,  another  there, 
and  they  clung,  each,  almost  wherever  in  the  region 
round  about,  a  tree  branch  shaded  the  flow^ers  of  the 
wilderness. 

So  one  clung,  1645,  at  Timxis,  present  Farming-ton. 
Thither  went  from  Hartford,  as  chief  settlers,  John 
Steele,  William  Lewis,  Stephen  Hart,  Thomas  Judd, 
John  Brunson,  John  Warner,  Nathaniel  Kellogg, 
Thomas  Barnes,  Richard  Seymour,  and  Thomas 
Gridley.  Farmington — be  mindful  of  the  parent 
from  whom  you  sprung !     You 

"  Let  the  tender  office  long  engage, 
To  rock  the  cradle  of  reposing  age!" 

So  another  swarm  clung,  1650,  at  Norivalk.  The 
first  survey  of  this  place  was  made  by  Richard  Olm- 
sted of  Hartford.  He  and  his  fellow-townsman  Na- 
thaniel Ely  first  petitioned  the  General  Court  for 
its  settlement — and  succeeded.  They,  and  Matthew 
Marvin,  and  Ralph  Keeler,  and  Nathaniel  Richards, 
all  from  Hartford,  joined  by  a  few  families  who  pre- 
ceded them  in  purchasing,  settled  the  town.  Nor- 
walk — remember  who  started  you  on  your  career ! 

"  No  earth  of  thine  is  lost  in  vulgar  mould !" 

So  still  another  sw^arm  clung,  1650 — at  this  date 
particularly,  but  some  of  it  before,  and  some  just  after 
our  Second  Period — at  Mattabesett,  now  Middletown. 
One  large  portion  of  this  place  was  first  bought  by 
Governor  John  Haynes  of  Hartford,  from  Sowheag  its 
primitive  Sachem.  The  rest  of  it  was  first  pur- 
chased, 1662,  by  Samuel  Wyllys,  likewise  of  Hartford, 


ITS    CIVIL    HISTORY    CONTINUED.  205 

from  Sepunnemo  and  other  Indian  chiefs,  and  for  the 
benefit  of  a  band  of  Hartford  planters,  who  chiefly 
settled  the  spot.  Among  these  were  John  Hall,  John 
Kirby,  Alexander  Bow,  George  Hubbard,  Joseph 
Hubbard,  Daniel  Hubbard,  Thomas  Hubbard,  Antho- 
ny Martin,  John  Savage,  Samuel  Stocking,  Samuel 
White,  Thomas  Wilcox,  and  John  Wilcox.  Middle- 
town — child  of  Hartford's  loins — we  grew  together, 
'  like  to  a  double  cherry' — 

"  twin,  as  'twere,  iii  love 
Unseparable,  till  within  this  hour, 
On  a  dissension  of  a  doit," 

we  fell  out !  '•  Air-liiie''  at  least  yom*  friendship  then 
back  again,  if  you  please,  to  its  parent  home ! 

So  still  another  swarm  clung,  1659,  not  as  hitherto 
within  the  domain  of  Connecticut,  nor  from  the  mo- 
tive merely  of  industrial  enterprise — but  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  from  the  motive  particularly  of  church 
quiet  after  an  ecclesiastical  difficulty  which  sorely  di- 
vided the  Town.  It  settled  up  the  river  at  Hadley — 
the  first  there.  Governor  Webster  and  Elder  Wil- 
liam Goodwin  were  its  leaders,  and  following  wdth 
them,  were  John  Crow,  Nathaniel  Ward,  John  White, 
John  Barnard,  Andrew  Bacon,  William  Lewis,  Wil- 
liam Westwood,  Richard  Goodman,  Wm.  Partridge, 
Thomas  Stanley,  Samuel  Porter,  Richard  Church, 
Francis  Barnard,  John  Marsh,  Nathaniel  Stanley, 
William  Markum,  Samuel  Moody,  Zachariah  Field, 
and  Andrew  Warner — all  from  Hartford — besides  per- 
haps one  widow,  whose  illegible  name  leaves  the 
place  from  which  she  emigrated  in  doubt. 


206  HARTFORD. 

So  still  other  emigrant  bees  left  Hartford,  not  as  in 
the  cases  already  mentioned,  in  swarms,  but  singly,  or 
a  few  only  together — as  Reinold  Marvin,  William 
Pratt,  Zachariah  Sanford,  Jr.,  Robert  Wade,  and  sev- 
eral others  to  Saybrook — Richard  Webb  to  Stam- 
ford— John  INIead,  John  Banks  and  others  to  Fair- 
field— Richard  Lord,  Thomas  Stanton,  Thomas  Hun- 
gerfort,  and  a  few  others  to  New  London,  and  to  the 
Pequot  country  round  about. 

But  what  made  the  Hartford  Settlers,  save  in 
founding  Hadley,  swarm  so?  It  is  matter  of  sur- 
prise that  with  lands  so  fertile,  extensive,  and  un- 
filled as  those  they  possessed  here,  they,  a  mere 
handful  comparatively,  should  so  at  once  spread 
themselves!  Was  it  restlessness,  a  desire  for  the 
"inlargement  of  the  King's  Dominions,"  a  spirit  of 
solitary  proprietorship,  thirst  for  acquisition,  fondness 
for  strange  acquaintanceship,  or  what?  But  look 
at  the  spirit  of  emigration  since !  See  it  convert- 
ing the  Ohio  and  INIissouri  solitudes  into  civilized 
homes — while  far  beyond — threading  the  thousand 
devious  arms  of  the  Mississippi,  and  crossing  the 
rugged  declivities  of  the  Rocky  Mountains — the  fear- 
less hunter,  and  trader,  and  emigrant,  listen  to  the 
savage  whoop  on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  San 
Joaquin,  and  Sacramento,  and  found  and  rear  insti- 
tutions and  temples,  to  Liberty  and  to  God,  within 
sound  of  the  breaking  billow  on  the  very  shore  of 
the  Pacific  I  Everywhere,  almost,  behold  the  white 
sail!  Listen  to  the  elastic  steam!  Hear  the  ti-amp 
of  the  iron  horse  !     Like  sons,  like  fathers ! 

Sc.i:vA. 


Iicirtfarlr. 


ITS   MILLS.     ITSIXXS.     PE  III  OD    SE  C  OXD. 

t 

Xo.  21. 

"  Behold  your  mill,"  said  Barbara — "  it's  as  dark  as  the  grave,  and  as  silent 
as  GlencauTi  Kirk."  "Nay  but  woman,"  said  the  miller,  rubbing  liis  elbow 
and  puckering  his  face  like  an  ill-tied  sack  mouth,  "  will  ye  no  be  convinced? 
D'ye  no  see  that  faint  stream  of  light  glimmering  out  at  the  door?"  And  he 
burst  out  singing,' 

"  Full  merrily  rings  the  millstone  round, 

Full  merrily  rings  the  wheel — 
Full  meiTily  gushes  out  the  grist ; 

Come  taste  my  fragi-ant  meal. 
Shout,  fairies,  shout ;  see  pouring  out, 

The  meal  comes  like  a  river — 
The  top  of  the  grain,  on  hDl  and  plain. 

Is  ours,  and  shall  be  ever  I" 

The  Elfin  Miller. 

"  ^leet  friendly,  My  liquors  are  good. 

Drink  moderately,  My  measures  are  just, 

Pay  honestly.  Pay  to-day. 

And  part  quietly.  To-morrow  Pll  trust. 

Life's  but  a  journey;  live  well  on  the  road." 

From  an  Inn-sign  at  Northfield  in  Kent,  England. 

They  fed  well — those  Settlers — and  better  much, 
the  mass  of  them,  than  the  people  of  England  of 
their  day !  Not  that  they  ever  got  the  boiled  capons, 
and  curlew  pies,  and  mutton  jiggets,  and  roasted  her- 
ons, and  pheasant  tarts,  and  fat  nightingales  seasoned 


208  HARTFORD. 

with  ])epper  and  ambergris,  of  the  gourmands  of  the 
old  country.  Not  that  their  chickens  ever  figured  on 
their  tables  sitting  upon  artificial  eggs  of  puff  paste. 
Nor  that,  like  Sir  George  Goring,  they  served  up  their 
pigs  tied  to  bag  puddings,  and  bitted  and  harnessed 
with  cables  of  sausages,  or  like  Oliver  Cromwell, 
enclosed  them  in  clay,  "  like  an  old  Ironsides  in  his 
coat  of  mail,"  for  a  stewing  in  hot  ashes.  No — 
nothincr  of  all  this  marked  the  fare  of  the  Settlers. 
It  was,  on  the  other  hand,  simple — it  was  cooked 
without  subtlety — it  was  substantial — it  was,  most 
of  the  time,  in  plenty. 

"  Beef,  mutton,  and  porke,  shred  pies  of  the  best, 
Pig,  veal,  goose,  and  pigeons,  and  tiirkie  well  drest; 
Cheese,  apples,  and  nuts,  bear,  chickens,  and  deere — 
These  then  in  the  countrie  were  counted  good  cheere." 

But  more  than  all  else  in  the  way  of  aliment — seem- 
ing to  pervade  everything  else,  as  air  all  bodies,  or  as 
blood  the  chambers  of  organization — was  the  Indian 
Corn.  Oh  the  ways,  the  many  ways,  in  which  this 
filiform,  pendulous,  aboriginal  Zea  of  botany  was 
cooked  I  Oh  how  sweet,  how  nutritious,  how  indis- 
pensable to  the  English  appetite  !  Oh,  when  malted, 
how  vital  its  farina  to  beer,  nay  even  to  whiskey — 
and  in  medicine  how  many  a  good  turn  it  served!  It 
was  among  the  "  dry  nurses"  of  ancient  Rome,  it  is 
said.  It  certainly  dry-nursed  the  English  Settlers  on 
the  banks  of  the  Connecticut — and  Ceres  may  well, 
for  teaching  its  use,  have  gained  her  place  among  the 
gods.  Really  we  can  in  no  other  way,  than  by  their 
fondness,  as  well  as  their  necessity,  at  times  pressing. 


ITS  MILLS. 


ITS  INNS. 


209 


for  Indian  Corn  particularly,  and  in  its  ground  state, 
account  for  the  ceaseless,  anxious  care  with  which 
the  Founders  of  Hartford  watched  their  mills  ! 

Jvist  see,  Reader!  Committees  after  committees, 
and  sometimes  the  Selectmen,  were  appointed  to  look 
after  these  mills — now,  and  again,  and  again,  to  con- 
tract for  building  new  onef? — now  to  purchase,  as  of 
Ml*.  Cullick  and  Mr.  Wyllys,  one  already  built — now 
to  repair  one — now  to  see  to  the  appropriation,  as  in 
one  instance  of  two  hundred  pounds,  for  "  further  car- 
rying" one  on — now  generally  to  "  order  its  affairs" — 
sometimes  in  connection  with  private  owners — some- 
times exclusively  "  on  the  Town's  account,  for  the 
Town's  use,"  and  with  power  to  caU  out  men  "  to  do 
work"  upon  them.  Judging  from  the  incessant  legis- 
lation of  the  Town  on  this  matter,  'we  should  almost 
think  that  its  "  two  women"  were  grinding  at  its  mill, 
and  that  both  were  taken — that  the  genius  of  Italy 
had  never  introduced  the  water-mill — that  like  the 
Wadsworths  who  settled  Geneseo,  New  York,  the 
Settlers  were  compelled  half  the  time,  to  reduce  their 
corn  into  flour  by  the  simple  expedient  of  pounding 
in  rough  mortars  cut  in  stumps  of  oak,  with  pestles 
as  rough — or  that,  if  they  had  miUstones  at  all,  like 
that  to  Avhich  Samson  was  condemned  in  his  prison 
with  the  Philistines,  they  were  turned  by  the  hand. 
Still  a  w^ater-mill,  one  or  more,  for  better,  for  w^orse, 
they  did  have,  and  soon  one  for  sawing  timber  as 
well  as  one  for  grinding  corn — the  property  of  Wil- 
liam Goodwin — and  the  General  Court  allowed  each 
miller,  for  grinding  a  bushel  of  corn,  one  twelfth  part, 
27 


210  HARTFORD. 

and  for  grinding  a  bushel  of  other  grains  one  six- 
teenth part — and  the  Miller  was  to  keep  a  Toll-Dish 
"  of  a  just  quart,"  and  a  Pottle-Dish  of  two  quarts, 
and  a  Pint-Dish,  all  sealed,  and  an  instrument  to 
strike  with,  "  all  fit  for  the  purpose !" 

The  miller's  toll !  How  the  usage  has  descended ! 
But  what  a  change  in  machinery  since  the  days  of 
which  we  speak !  And  around  how  many  busy  mills 
in  Connecticut  now,  cluster  "the  sheltered  cot,  the 
cultivated  farm,  the  decent  church,"  and  stately  trees, 

"  with  seats  beneath  the  shade, 
For  talking  age  and  whispering  lovers  made," 

in  '  sweet  Auburns'  of  which  the  Hartford  Settlers 
sowed  the  seeds ! 

And  in  these  Auburns,  homes  for  the  weary  travel- 
ler of  course — Inns  !  Goldsmith,  in  his  exquisite  pic- 
ture of  that  '  loveliest  village  of  the  plain,'  from  which 
we  have  just  quoted,  has  strangely  forgotten  these 
indispensable  establishments — unless  the  '  house'  of 
'  nut-brown  draughts,'  the  ale-house  proper,  was  erst 
also  the  inn — which  we  doubt.  It  seems  to  have 
escaped  him  that  '  health  and  plenty,'  in  houses  for 
their  peculiar  entertainment,  are  to  cheer  the  stranger 
and  the  wanderer  as  well  as  the  '  village  train.'  Let 
us  supply  his  omission,  so  far  as  regards  the  old 
Auburn  of  Hartford,  Reader,  and  talk  awhile  about 
its  inns ! 

At  what  time  precisely,  and  where,  the  first  was  es- 
tablished, cannot  be  determined.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  know — pleasant  to  shake  hands  with  mine 
first  host,  and  '  look  to  the  guests  within,'  and  like 


ITS  MILLS.   ITS  INNS.  211 

FalstafF  even,  lay  our  ears  "  close  to  the  ground,  and 
list  if  we  could  hear  the  tread  of  travellers  I"  Pleas- 
ant to  go  into  that  inn's  '  fat  room,'  and  '  lend  a 
hand'  to  laugh  a  little  with  its  'hearts  of  gold,'  and 
for  old  time's  sake,  even  take  a  cup  of  sack,  for 
sack  it  had,  and  be  '  merry  as  crickets !'  But  let  us 
see  if  we  can  find  the  inn  first. 

The  earliest  of  which  we  have  notice,  was  estab- 
lished in  1644,  and  curiously  enough  by  express  order 
of  the  General  Court — and  one  not  only  in  Hartford, 
but  others  in  each  town  upon  our  River.  Even  at 
this  early  period  there  was  quite  an  influx  of  persons 
from  abroad  into  our  settlements.  "  Whereas,"  says 
the  General  Court,  "  many  strayngers  and  passengers 
that  uppon  occasion  have  recourse  to  these  Townes, 
are  streightened  for  want  of  entertainment,  it  is 
now  Ordered,  that  the  several  Townes  shall  provide 
among  themselves  in  each  Towne,  one  sufficient  in- 
habitant to  keep  an  Ordinary,  for  provision  and 
lodgeing  in  some  comfortable  manner,  that  such  pas- 
sengers or  strayngers  may  know  where  to  resort ;  and 
such  inhabitants  as  by  the  several  Townes  shall  be 
chosen  for  the  said  service,  shall  be  presented  to  two 
Magistrates,  that  they  may  be  judged  meet  for  that 
employment,  and  this  to  be  effected  by  the  severall 
Townes  within  one  month,  under  the  penalty  of  40s. 
a  month,  each  month  the  Towne  shall  neglect  it." 
So  that  the  establishment  of  a  tavern  was,  in  its  ear- 
liest day,  made  compulsory  upon  Hartford,  and  its 
citizens,  as  a  body,  voted  for  Boniface,  and  two  Mag- 
istrates reviewed  their  choice.     We   have   the  same 


212  HARTFORD. 

principle,  though  running  through  different  channels, 
now.  Our  civil  authority,  selectmen,  constables  and 
grand  jurors,  are  to  nominate  suitable  persons  for  tav- 
erners,  and  the  County  Court  is  to  grant  them  licen- 
ces. What  important  personages  these  landlords  are! 
Alone  almost,  of  all  social  laborers,  directly  embraced 
by  the  loving  arms  of  the  State — so  two  hundred  and 
seven  years  ago — so  now!  Taverners  of  Hartford, 
does  not  the  State  compliment  you  ?  But  come  and 
let  us  introduce  you,  and  our  Readers  generally,  to 
your  predecessor,  the  first  and  in  his  day  the  only  tav- 
erner  of  Hartford — landlord  Jeremy  Adams  I 

He  was  a  queer  compound — this  Adams — mis-be- 
haved and  well-behaved.  His  follies,  however,  were 
confined  to  his  youth — for  it  was  as  far  back  as  1644, 
when  he  was  a  comparative  stripling,  that  he  set  on 
Thomas  Hosmer  to  resist  a  constable  in  the  levy  of 
an  execution,  and  received  the  formal  censure  of  the 
Court  for  his  "passionate,  distempered  speeches,  and 
loud  language,  and  unmannerly  carriage"  upon  this 
occasion.  He  sobered  down  afterwards — became  an 
active,  useful  citizen — and  in  1663,  was  rewarded 
with  the  responsible  trust  of  Custom- Master  for  our 
Town.  The  year  previous,  the  General  Court  con- 
firmed him  in  his  vocation  as  taverner.  By  special 
enactment  it  declared,  that  the  house  which  he  im- 
proved as  an  Ordinary  should  "remain  in  future  for 
the  same  end  and  use" — be  fitted  to  give  sufl[icient 
entertainment  both  '  to  neighbors  and  strangers'' — and 
that  Adams  himself,  though  he  should  fail  in  some  of 
the  particulars  of  his  agreement,  should  yet  not  for- 


ITS  MILLS.   ITS  INNS.  213 

feit  his  license,  but  continue  subject,  at  its  discretion, 
to  the  censure  of  the  Court.  The  monopoly  also  was 
given  him  of  selling  all  wines  under  a  quarter  cask, 
and  all  liquors  under  an  anker.  His  Inn  was  situated 
on  Main  Street,  on  its  east  side,  and  between  the 
present  dwellings  of  William  Isham  and  Ezra  Clark, 
Esquires.  It  stood  back  from  the  present  line  of  the 
street  about  one  hundred  feet,  and  had  a  lot  attached 
containing  about  three  acres.  The  well  which  now 
supplies  House  number  121,  Main  Street,  occupied 
by  Miss  Hepsibah  Chenevard  and  others,  is  the  same 
that  supplied  the  house  of  Adams,  and  is  directly  in 
front  of  the  location  of  the  old  Inn.  That  Inn  too 
was  the  identical  building  in  which,  in  1687,  the  Gen- 
eral Court  was  assembled  on  occasion  of  the  arrival 
of  Governor  Andross,  when  the  brave  Captain  Wads- 
worth  blew  out  the  light,  seized  the  Charter,  and  hid 
it  triumphantly  in  the  Oak.  It  was  then  kept,  howev- 
er, by  Zachariah  Sanford,  to  whom  Connecticut,  hav- 
ing previously  foreclosed  a  mortgage  of  the  premises 
given  to  the  Colony  by  Adams,  had  sold  it.  Poor 
Adams — he  seems  to  have  been  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  unfortunate.  He  got  into  debt — badly — but 
quietly  discharged  his  chief  one,  the  debt  of  nature, 
in  1683,  and  slept  then,  undisturbed  in  that  noiseless, 
subterranean  inn,  whose  chambers  echo  to  no  living 
tread,  and  where  the  voices  of  all  duns  are  hushed  in 
the  silence  of  the  grave. 

But  how,  in  the  old  time,  was  mine  host  to  manage 
his  inn  ?  No  sooner  had  Hartford  reached  its  Second 
Period,  than  his  duties  and  responsibilities,  were  quite 
accurately  defined  by  law.     The  mode  of  his  appoint- 


214  HARTFORD. 

ment  we  have  just  seen.  When  established,  he  had 
his  Si»-n.  Not,  of  course,  the  '  White  Hart,'  or  the 
'  White  Swan,'  or  the  '  Blue  Boar' — heraldic  these  too 
forcibly  of  i\\e  Richards  and  the  Henrys  of  the  des- 
potic mother-land — but  some  '  Bunch  of  Grapes' — 
this  is  the  earliest  tavern  carving  of  which  we  have 
notice,  and  appropriate  as  derived  from  our  State 
Arms — perhaps  some  Hart  browsing  on  the  rich  grass 
of  our  valley — or  a  chained  lion — or  an  eagle  repos- 
ing on  his  perch — or  the  head  of  an  ox  and  a  tankard 
of  sack — or  the  General  Wolfe  of  that  day,  John 
Mason  the  hero  of  the  Pequot  W^ar.  No  matter — 
the  landlord  had  his  sign  of  some  sort — it  had  been 
long  in  England  a  fixed  custom.  Jeremy  Adams 
once  neglected  it,  and  the  County  Court,  in  1G79,  or- 
dered him  to  set  up  a  '  compleat  one,'  or  pay  a  fine 
of  forty  shillings.  The  sign  was  necessary  to  lure 
the  eye  of  the  wayfarer  to  repose  and  to  good  cheer. 
And  such  cheer  the  host  was  bound  by  law  to  pro- 
vide. An  Act  of  the  General  Court  compelled  him 
to  entertain  strangers  '  in  a  comfortable  manner.'  He 
was  to  furnish  '  every  accommodation'  necessary  for 
this  purpose — '  wine  and  liquors'  as  well  as  food,  for 
the  '  good  refreshing  both  of  man  and  beast.'  In  the 
language  of  writers  on  inns  of  that  day,  if  a  guest 
came  to  his  house,  he  was  not  "  to  challenge  a  lordlie 
authority  over  him,  but  clean  otherwise,  since  every 
man  may  use  the  inne  as  his  OAvne  house,  and  have, 
for  monie,  how  great  or  how  little  varietie  of  vittles, 
and  what  other  service,  himselfe  shall  thinke  expedi- 
ent  to    call    for — and    have    cleane  sheets    to    lie   in, 


ITS  MILLS.   ITS  INNS.  215 

wherein  no  man  had  been  lodged  since  they  came 
from  the  landresse — and  have  a  servante  to  kindle  his 
fire,  and  one  to  pull  off  his  boots  and  make  them 
cleane — and  have  the  hoste  or  hostess  to  visit  him, 
and  to  eat  with  the  hoste,  or  at  a  common  table,  if  he 
pleases,  or  eat  in  his  chamber,  commanding  what 
meate  he  will,  according  to  his  appetite,  yea  the 
kitchen  being  open  to  him  to  order  the  meate  to  be 
dressed  as  he  liketh  best." 

As  for  the  horses  of  his  guest,  the  landlord  was  to 
provide  for  them  one  or  more  enclosures  for  summer, 
and  hay  or  provender  for  winter,  with  convenient  sta- 
ble room  and  attendance — and  this  under  a  penalty  of 
tsvo  shillings  and  sixpence  for  every  day's  default,  and 
double  damages  to  the  party  thereby  wronged. 

He  was  not  to  suffer  any  persons  to  be  intoxicated 
in  his  house,  or  to  drink  excessively.  Half  a  pint  of 
wine  was  all  that  he  was  allowed  to  deal  out  to  one 
person  at  one  time,  nor  was  he  to  allow  tippling  to 
continue  above  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  nor  at  un- 
reasonable times,  nor  after  nine  of  the  clock  at  night.* 

*  This  was  old  landlord  Moses  Butler's  hour,  within  the  memory  of  persons 
now  living,  without  other  law  than  his  ovm,  for  dispersing  his  guests.  He 
kept  tavern  at  the  comer  of  present  Main  and  Elm  Streets,  south  of  the 
Bridge.  A  "/Seren  Copper  Club,'''  so  called  from  the  expenditure  of  seven 
coppers  by  each  member,  every  time  they  met,  on  half  a  mug  of  flip,  and 
consisting  of  elderly  gentlemen  of  the  Town,  used  to  convene  at  his  house. 
He  would  never  allow  them  to  remain  after  nine,  and  to  any  soUcitations  for 
more  liquor,  after  the  customary  half  mug  was  consumed,  invariably  replied, 
"  No,  you  shan't  have  another  drop — go  home  to  your  families !" 

[The  table  of  cherry  wood  used  by  this  Club,  together  with  two  of  their 
old  flip-mugs — quart  mugs  of  pewter — are  now  in  the  possession  of  Scseva. 
Curious  relics  indeed  they  are,  that  reach  back,  in  their  antiquity,  even  to 
the  times  of  the  Stamp  Act !     Ed.] 


216 


HARTFORD, 


He  was  not  to  deliver  any  wine  out  of  his  house,  nor 
suffer  any  to  be  delivered,  except  upon  a  note  from 
some  master  of  a  family  and  allowed  inhabitant  of 
the  Town — and  as  for  '  hot  water' — which  we  take 
to  mean  the  '  fire-water'  '  cobblers,'  or  '  punches,'  or 
'  smashers'  of  modern  Times — these  he  ^vas  to  sell  to 
no  one  but  in  cases  of  necessity,  and  then  in  modera- 
tion.* Every  person  found  drunk  upon  his  premises 
was  fined  ten  shillings.  This  was  the  fine  for  either 
moderate  tipsiness,  when  but 

"A  pleasing  frenzy  buoyed  the  lightened  soul," 

or  for  that  deeper  intoxication  in  which 

"  the  feeble  tongue, 
Unable  to  take  up  the  cumbrous  word, 


*  What  would  the  Hartford  Settlers  have  thought  of  the  following  "Fancy 
Brinks,'"  at  twelve  and  a  half  cents  each,  which  we  copy  from  the  present 
printed  list  of  a  famous  Boston  Eestaurant  ? 


Plain  Mint  Julep. 

Tip  and  Tj'. 

Spiced  Punch. 

Fancy' 

Fiscal  Agent. 

Epicure's  Punch. 

Mixed 

Veto. 

Porteree. 

Peach             " 

I.  0.  U. 

Split  Ticket. 

Pine  Apple    " 

Tippe  Xa  Pecco. 

Tom  and  Jerry. 

Claret             " 

Moral  Suasion. 

Milk  Punch. 

Capped 

Vox  Popuh. 

Peach  Punch. 

Strawberry    " 

Xe  Plus  Ultra. 

Cheny  Punch. 

Arrack            " 

Soda  Punch. 

Jewett's  Fancy. 

Eace  Hoi-se    " 

Shambro. 

Deacon. 

Sherry  Cobbler. 

Pig  and  Whistle. 

Exchange. 

Rochelle      " 

Citronella  Jam. 

Stone  Wall. 

Arrack       " 

Egg  Nog. 

Virginia  Fancy. 

Peach         " 

Sargent. 

Knickerbocker. 

Claret         " 

Silver  Top. 

Smasher. 

Ching  Ching. 

Poor  Man's  Punch. 

Floater. 

Tog. 

Arrack  Punch. 

Sifter. 

Ropee. 

Iced  Punch. 

Soda  Punch. 

ITS    MILLS.       ITS    INNS.  217 

Lies  quite  dissolved,  and  confused  above, 
Glasses  and  bottles,  pipes  and  gazeteers, 
As  if  the  table  even  itself  was  drunk. 
Lie  a  wet,  broken  scene."* 

What  a  bundle  thus  of  good  behavior  mine  host  of 
the  olden  time,  then  almost  the  sole  retailer  of  wines 
and  spirituous  liquors,  had  to  be !  AVhat  a  burden  of 
moral  censorship  he  had  to  bear  on  his  shoulders! 
And  he  was  to  be  ready,  at  all  times,  to  give  an 
account  of  his  'doings.'  And  he  was  peculiarly- 
responsible,  then  as  now,  for  the  safe  custody  of  the 
property  of  his  guests.  The  common  law  of  En- 
gland, of  force  here  as  there,  had  long  settled  the 
principle  that  if  a  traveller  "lose  aught  whileth  he 
abideth  at  an  inne,  the  hoste  is  bounde  by  a  general 
custome  to  restore  the  dam^age."  Neither  Pothier, 
Jones,  Domat,  or  Story,  have  since  laid  down  the 
law  on  this  subject  more  clearly. 

But  enough.  Reader,  for  to-day.  We  have  turned 
you  out  a  grist  from  the  old  mills  of  Hartford.  Just 
work  it  up,  if  you  please,  into  the  rolls  of  memory. 
We  have  taken  you  into  Hartford's  oldest  inn,  and 
introduced  you  to  the  landlord,  and  to  his  guests. 
Just  talk  with  them,  till  you  see  us  again  !     Perhaps 


*  Excessive  drinking,  in  the  times  of  which  we  speak,  even  though  not  be- 
wildering the  sense,  was  punished  by  a  fine  of  three  shillings  and  fourpence — 
tippling  above  the  space  of  half  an  houi',  by  a  fine  of  two  shilhngs  and  six- 
pence— tippling  at  unseasonable  times,  or  after  nine  at  night,  by  a  fine  of 
five  shillings — and  double  fines  were  exacted  for  second  offences,  treble  for 
third,  while  imprisonment  and  sureties  for  good  behavior  followed  upon  the 
fourth,  and  justice  laid  on  ten  stripes  where  the  sot  was  unable  to  pay  his 
fine,  or  clapped  him  unceremoniously  in  the  stocks. 

28 


218  HARTFORD. 

they  will  tell  you  more  than  we  have.  They  ivill.,  if ' 
you  but  open  a  little  the  wings  of  your  imagination, 
and  do  not  stand  with  them  stupidly  folded.  Draw 
one  of  those  large  leather  chairs,  if  you  please — the 
landlord  has  two  of  them — *  or  one  of  his  joint 
stools — near  the  fire — for  it  is  chilly,  and  there's  a 
merry  blaze  from  those  big  logs!  Sit  down  now; — 
cosily — and  talk,  and  think !  The  Room  is  over  your 
head  in  which,  a  few  years  down,  the  Fathers  of 
Connecticut  pleaded  for  their  old  Charter!  Hark 
how  its  floor  resounds  to  the  tread  of  Andross  and 
his  suite,  and  his  armed  myrmidons !  Listen  to  the 
retreating  footfall  of  Wadsworth,  as  he  glides,  trophy 
in  hand,  into  the  open  air!  Follow  him  out  into 
the  darkness !  Can  you  see  him — hear  him  longer  ? 
Pause  then  at  the  threshold,  and  poise  that  old  oaken 
bucket  on  the  curb  of  Jeremy's  well,  and  incline  '  its 
green,  mossy  brim'  to  your  lips,  and  '  take  a  drink !' 
The  patriots  drank  there ! 

By  the  bye,  did  your  lips  receive  a  salutation 
from  that  pretty  hostess,  or  that  pretty  daughter,  or 
that  pretty  maid,  when  you  entered  the  Inn  ?  Such 
was  the  invariable  custom  in  country  inns  in  En- 
gland, down  to  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  Sec- 
ond, and  it  was  prized  as  an  innocent  embellish- 
ment. But  sooth  to  say,  we  think  you  missed  it 
here.  Your  Puritan  landlord  would  never  allow  it. 
His  scowl,  at  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  liis  house- 
hold thus  to  kiss  a  stranger,  would  have  been  enough 


*  His  inventory  is  pi-eserved. 


ITS  MILLS.   ITS  IXXS.  219 

to  turn  the  spiciest  gale  of  Paphos  into  a  bitter 
north-easter  I  The  gallantries  of  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century  had  taught  him  to  look  up- 
on love  as  a  sort  of  '  chemical  spirit  that  extracted 
all  the  folly  and  the  flagitiousness  of  the  age' — and 
a  kiss  "svas  one  of  its  adulterate  voices.  But  just 
take  your  ease  in  your  inn,  Reader,  till  you  hear 
ao^ain  from  Sc^va. 


iartforlr. 


ITS  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY— PERIOD  SECOND. 

No.  22. 

"  For  first  of  all  when  ye  come  together  in  the  church,  I  hear  that  there 
be  divisions  among  you."  !•  Cor.  xi.  18. 

"And  there  are  diiferences  of  administration,  but  the  same  Lord." 

1.  Cor.  xii.  5. 

"  Put  on   Charity,  which  is  the   bond  of  perfectness,  and  let  the   peace 
of  God  rule  in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye  are  called  in  one  body." 

Col.  Hi.  14,  15. 

Soon  after  the  commencement  of  our  Second  Peri- 
od, a  controversy  commenced  in  the  Church  of  Hart- 
ford which,  "  for  its  circumstances,  its  duration,  and 
its  obstinacy,"  says  Trumbull,  "  was  the  most  remark- 
able of  any  in  its  day — which  afiected  all  the  church- 
es, and  insinuated  itself  into  the  affairs  of  societies, 
towns  and  the  whole  commonwealth."  Nor  was  it 
confined  to  Connecticut.  It  hung  like  a  cloud  over 
the  heart  of  all  New  England — darkened  almost  ev- 
ery temple  of  worship,  and  kindled  baleful  fires  at 
almost  every  altar. 

It  began  with  a  difference,  between  Rev.  Mr.  Stone 
and  Elder  Wm.  Goodwin,  either  about  the  admission 
of  some  member  to  the  church,  or  the  administration 


222  HARTFORD. 

of  the  rite  of  baptism,  and  quickly  involved  many- 
other  points  also  of  ecclesiastical  polity.  Look  at 
the  leading  questions  that  were  raised ! 

What  constitutes  church  membership — admission 
to  full  communion  only,  or  a  belief  in  Christianity 
and  worshipful  attendance  upon  its  ordinances  also  ? 
Is  the  '  matter  of  the  visible  church'  composed  of 
saints  exclusively,  or  of  those  also  who,  not  being 
communicants,  attend  religious  services,  hold  pews, 
and  pay  rates  ?  Particularly  does  it  not  belong  to  the 
whole  body  of  a  town  jointly  to  call  and  settle  its 
minister — and  may  not  the  adult  seed  of  visible  be- 
lievers, not  cast  out,  be  true  members  of  the  church, 
and  subjects  of  church  watch?  What  constitutes 
baptism — is  'federal  holiness  or  covenant  interest'  its 
proper  ground?  Is  the  grace  of  perfect  regeneration 
vital  to  its  application,  or  may  it  not  be  used  also  as 
a  seal  of  the  covenant  iyiitiatory  in  its  nature  ?  Par- 
ticularly is  it  scriptural  to  baptize  the  children  of  any 
parents  who  are  not  themselves  in  full  communion  ? 
Whence  do  ministers  receive  their  commission  to 
baptize  ?  Does  the  word  of  God  warrant  the  com- 
munion of  chm-ches,  as  such  ?  Has  a  synod  decisive 
power  ?  How  far  shall  any  particular  church  yield  to 
its  authority,  or  to  that  of  any  other  ecclesiastical 
council?  Must  every  person,  gi-ieved  at  any  church 
process  or  censure,  acquiesce  in  it,  and  if  not,  where 
shall  he  repair  ?  What  is  the  gospel  way  to  gather 
and  settle  churches  ?  Does  the  laying  on  of  hands  in 
ordination  belong  to  presbyters  or  brethren  ?  A  for- 
midable list  of  questions  truly !     But  there  were  oth- 


ITS    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  223 

ers  too — of  minor  consequence,  yet  all  involved  in 
these  just  stated — and  most  of  these,  in  point  of  fact, 
in  the  two  salient  ones  of  church  membership  and 
baptism,  of  which  baptism  particularly  was  debated 
with  an  ardor  that  neither  Socinian  nor  Romanist, 
Pelagian  nor  Hermian,  not  Nazianzen,  St.  Cyril,  nor 
Salmasius,  have  ever  surpassed. 

We  are  blameless,  as  most  people,  in  our  lives  and 
conversation — we  are  well  disposed — w^e  are  sober — 
argued,  according  to  Mather,  'multitudes'  of  per- 
sons— and  so  particularly  many  of  the  church  in 
Hartford.  We  are  full  believers  in  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  We  desire  to  accept  Christ  for  our  Re- 
deemer. We  seek  forgiveness  of  our  sins.  We  are 
ready  to  promise  that,  through  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  we  will  forsake  the  vanities  of  this  evil  world, 
and  strive  to  act  according  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel. 
We  wish  to  submit  ourselves  to  the  watch  and  disci- 
pline of  the  church.  Particularly  we  will  promise  to 
bring  up  the  children  that  may  be  given  us,  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  We  want  the 
distinction  and  privileges,  therefore,  of  church  mem- 
bership for  ourselves,  and  of  baptism  for  our  children. 
True,  we  are  not  communicants,  but  we  will  labor 
diligently  to  become  so.  Why  then  shut  upon  us, 
'  hopeful  candidates'  as  we  thus  are,  the  doors  of 
church  privilege?  Is  it  just?  Is  it  wise?  Why 
make  no  difference,  in  this  respect,  between  ourselves 
and  Pagans  ?  Why,  in  particular,  exclude  our  off- 
spring, dear  as  they  are  to  our  hearts,  and  partakers, 
as  it  is  our  dearest  wish  they  should  be,  of  the  king- 


224  HARTFORD. 

dom  of  heaven,  why  exclude  them  from  the  baptism 
of  Christianity  simply  because  our  own  honest  doubts 
and  fears  are  such  that  we  cannot  ourselves  '  come 
up  to  the  covenanting  state  of  communicants  at  the 
table  of  the  Lord?'  This  is  harsh — it  is  an  unwar- 
rantable strictness.  Baptism  and  full  communion  are 
separate  things,  and  the  former,  with  church  watch, 
may  be  enjoyed  without  the  latter.  Seal  though  it  be 
of  the  covenant,  baptism  is  after  all  but  an  initiatory 
rite.  It  does  not  of  itself  absolutely  confer,  it  does 
not  of  itself  indelibly  impress  the  grace  of  regenera- 
tion, nor  is  salvation  so  inseparably  annexed  to  it,  as 
that  without  it  no  person  can  enter  heaven.  "  The 
Lord  hath  not  set  up  churches,"  be  it  remembered, 
"  only  that  a  few  old  Christians  should  keep  one 
another  warm  while  they  live,  and  then  carry  away 
the  church  into  the  cold  grave  with  them,  when  they 
die ;  no,  but  that  they  might  with  all  care,  and  with 
all  the  obligations  and  advantages  to  that  care  that 
may  be,  nurse  up  still  successively  another  generation 
of  subjects  to  our  Lord,  that  may  stand  up  in  his 
kingdom  when  they  are  gone."*  So  pleaded,  so  de- 
manded one  large  party  in  the  church  of  Hartford — 
and  some  of  its  members,  going  farther  than  others, 
claimed  for  all  who  professed  the  Christian  religion 
and  led  honest  lives,  every  rite  and  privilege  of  the 
church,  without  inquiry  made  as  to  any  change  of 
heart. 

On  the  other  hand  it  was  urged,  in  reply  to  these 
claims,  that  they  were  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 


*  Cotton  Mather. 


ITS    ECCLESIASTICAL     HISTORY.  225 

rights  of  the  brotherhood  and  the  strict  principles  of 
the  Congregational  churches — that  they  were  innova- 
tions on  its  practice,  and  contrary  to  its  purity — that 
they  would  subvert  the  very  design  for  which  the 
churches  in  New  England  were  planted.  Baptism, 
said  the  advocates  of  these  views,  is  a  seal  of  the 
whole  covenant  of  grace — those,  therefore,  not  inter- 
ested in  this  covenant  by  faith,  by  saving  faith,  by  the 
being  of  repentance,  ought  not  to  have  the  seal  there- 
of for  themselves,  nor  for  their  children. ,  If  we  ex- 
tend it  in  the  manner  demanded,  there  would  be  great 
corruption.  It  would  be  a  profanation  of  the  rite.  It 
would  have  a  natural  tendency  to  harden  unregener- 
ate  persons  in  their  sinful  condition — and  to  admit 
such  to  privileges  and  membership  in  the  churches, 
would  at  once  throw  the  homes  of  the  saints  into  the 
power  of  the  worldly  part  of  mankind,  profane  their 
administration,  and  pervert  their  efficacy. 

Thus  armed,  each  with  argument,  each  with  copi- 
ous quotations  from  the  Scriptures,  from  history,  and 
from  ecclesiastical  writers  and  controversialists  of 
every  age,  the  two  parties  in  the  Church  of  Hartford 
went  on,  mingling  as  they  progressed  various  new 
points  of  dispute — each  bent  on  achieving  a  tri- 
umph— neither  convincing  the  other — and  each  grow- 
ing daily  more  and  more  bitter,  till  the  mischievous 
ecclesiastical  tragedy  was  at  last  almost  ready  to 
burst  in  a  fifth  and  closing  act  of  religious  desolation. 
What  was  to  be  done  ?  Councils  of  neighboring  eld- 
ers and  churches  were  called — in  1654 — in  1655 — to 
settle  the  dispute — and  one  from  Massachusetts,  in 
29 


226  HARTFORD. 

1656.  No  good  resulted.  Parties  became  more 
alienated  than  ever.  The  General  Court,  1656,  took 
the  matter  up,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  present 
the  grievances  to  the  General  Courts  of  the  United 
Colonies,  for  advice,  for  conciliation.  A  Council,  ap- 
pointed by  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  was  the 
result.  It  heard  the  grievances — debated  them — gave 
answers  to  twenty-one  of  them,  and  to  the  principal 
ones,  those  regarding  church-membership  and  bap- 
tism, replied  in  favor  of  a  liberal  extension  of  these 
privileges.  Still  the  Church  at  Hartford  was  not  sat- 
isfied. A  number  of  its  members  were  about  with- 
drawing to  the  Church  at  Wethersfield.  Mr.  Stone 
applied  to  them  the  thunders  of  his  Vatican — a 
com'se  of  discipline.  It  did  no  good.  The  Commis- 
sioners of  the  United  Colonies  wrote  them.  It  did 
no  good.  The  General  Court  again,  1658,  interfered. 
By  this  time  numbers  of  the  Church  had  actually 
withdrawn.  The  Court  attempted  to  reconcile  them 
to  their  brethren,  through  the  agency  again  of  the 
elders  of  the  Colony.  Mi*.  Stone,  defender,  as  he 
was,  of  the  independent  action  of  his  Church  in  the 
case  and  of  its  power  of  discipline,  gallantly  offered 
to  dispute  with  any  person,  in  the  presence  of  the 
General  Assembly,  the  right  of  the  aggrieved  breth- 
ren to  withdraw,  and  to  prove  their  act  '  a  sin  exceed- 
ing scandalous  and  sinful.'  The  Court  declined  the 
proffer,  but  again,  1659,  called  at  Hartford  another 
Council  of  the  elders  and  churches  of  Boston,  Cam- 
bridge, Charlestown,  Ipswich,  Dedham,  and  Sudbury, 
to  heal  the  divisions.     The  Council  convened — twice 


ITS    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  227 

during  the  year — and  for  the  first  time,  good  was  now- 
done.  The  salve  applied  began  to  heal  the  old  sore. 
It  brought  the  parties  in  Hartford  much  '  nearer  than 
they  had  been  before ! '  Other  causes  combined, 
about  this  time,  to  improve  this  state  of  things. 
Some  of  the  persons  who  figured  conspicuously  in 
the  controversy,  had  passed  to  the  land  of  silence. 
"  The  dust  of  mortality,"  says  Mather,  was  thrown 
upon  them,  "  so  that  they  not  only  left  stinging  one 
another,  but  hived  with  unjarring  love  in  the  land 
that  flows  w4th  what  is  better  than  milk  and  honey." 
Other  disputants  removed  from  Hartford  to  other 
places — Mr.  Cullick  to  Boston — Elder  Goodwin  and 
Governor  Webster,  with  a  number  of  others  from 
Hartford,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Russel  and  about  thirty  oth- 
ers from  Wethersfield,  and  with  some  from  Windsor, 
went  up  the  River,  as  has  been  heretofore  stated,  and 
founded  Hadley  in  Massachusetts.  Peace  was  once 
more  comparatively  restored.  The  acrimony  of  dis- 
pute, though  not  the  dispute  itself,  ceased.  Men, 
though  disagreeing  in  opinions  still,  differed  not  so 
widely,  nor  so  numerously  as  before,  and  differed  with 
more  composure.  The  dove,  and  not  the  kite,  began 
to  hover  over  their  spirits — so  that  by  November, 
1659,  a  Proclamation  for  a  Thanksgiving  recognized 
the  settlement  of  the  difficulties  in  our  Town,  partic- 
ularly through  the  agency  of  the  latest  Councils,  as 
an  event  demanding  public  joy  and  praise. 

What  now,  it  will  naturally  be  asked,  on  reviewing 
the  controversy  we  have  described,  what  made  these 
people  of  the  olden  time  so  warm,  and  withal  so  bit- 


228  HARTFORD. 

ter?  Prudent,  good,  forbearing  persons  that  we  sup- 
pose them  to  have  been — not  apt  '  to  let  their  angry- 
passions  rise' — why  in  this  matter  so  quarrelsome 
and  so  acrimonious  ? 

Well,  in  the  first  place,  such,  as  upon  them,  is  the 
usual  effect  of  all  religious  dispute.  The  Odium  The- 
ologicum  has  grown  into  a  proverb !  Religion  lies  so 
nearest  the  hearts  of  men  that  they  find  it  more  diffi- 
cult for  this  reason,  we  suppose,  to  endure  differences 
of  sentiment  upon  theological  than  upon  other  sub- 
jects— and  anger  and  the  pride  of  opinion,  with  the 
best  of  us,  are  after  all  the  hardest  passion-horses  of 
our  nature  to  bit  and  rein  in.  In  the  next  place  a 
new,  and  in  some  important  respects  a  different  gen- 
eration, as  compared  with  the  First  Period  of  the 
Colony,  had  sprung  up.  Formerly  there  had  been 
great  harmony  in  the  church.  Though  strictly  Calvin- 
istic  in  doctrine,  and  rigid  in  its  exaction  of  duties 
and  in  its  discipline,  it  had  no  sectaries.  Its  clergy 
'  walked  in  the  most  endeared  friendship,  like  Moses 
and  Aaron'  with  the  Legislature.  Its  influence  was 
rarely  questioned,  and  almost  unbounded.  Now 
many  of  the  old  ministers  were  dead,  as  was  particu- 
larly, Mr.  Hooker,  Quite  a  number  had  returned  to 
England.  The  children  of  the  First  Period  had  be- 
come adults.  The  stamp  of  grand-father  and  gi'and- 
mother  was  upon  most  of  their  parents  who  survived. 
New  emigrants  had  arrived,  less  strict  in  their  views 
than  those  who  preceded  them.  A  new  spirit  was 
abroad — one  in  some  material  features  more  liberal, 
less   submissive,  more    inquisitive,  more    progressive, 


ITS    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  229 

but  at  the  same  time,  under  some  aspects,  less  scrij3- 
tural,  perhaps,  and  less  pure.  It  would  of  course 
seek,  as  it  did,  increased  freedom  in  the  administra- 
tion of  religion.  Fewer  comparatively  were  church 
communicants  than  formerly.  Such,  if  of  sober  lives 
and  conversation,  would  naturally  strive,  for  them- 
selves and  for  the  sake  of  their  children,  to  relax  the 
rigid  claims  of  the  church.  Many  there  were  also 
who  began  "  notoriously  to  forget  the  errand  into  the 
wilderness" — many  whom  '  the  enchantments  of  this 
world' led  "  sensibly  to  neglect  the  primitive  designs 
and  interests  of  religion  as  propounded  by  their  fath- 
ers." All  such  would  naturally  look  with  indifference 
upon  any  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  old  ecclesi- 
astical opinions  and  usages,  or  labor  earnestly  after 
emancipation  from  their  restraints.  Others  there 
were  also,  many  as  compared  with  former  times,  who 
were  decided  sinners — who  neither  sought  the  influ- 
ences nor  cared  for  the  duties  of  piety,  but  who,  on 
the  other  hand,  disrelished  its  ordinances  and  even 
despised  its  demands.  All  such  would  of  course  like 
a  quarrel  which  tended  to  relax  the  strictness  and 
weaken  the  force  of  Christian  organization — would 
help  it  on — would  relish  the  spectacle  of  religious 
parties  pitted  in  the  field  of  strife, 

"  To  prove  their  doctrine  orthodox 
By  apostohc  blows  and  knocks — " 

would  rejoice  even  to  see  each  casting  upon  the 
other  frowns, 

"  as  when  two  black  clouds, 
With  Heaven's  artillery  fraught,  come  rattling  on 
Over  the  Caspian." 


230  HARTFORD. 

Under  all  the  circumstances  now  described,  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  controversy  upon  which  we  have 
dwelt,  assumed  in  Hartford  the  phase  that  it  did. 
Reasoning  dou.btless  from  these  circumstances,  but  in 
their  nascent  state — when  like  little  clouds  they  were 
'  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand' — Mr.  Stone,  singularly 
enough,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Second  Period 
in  our  History,  in  a  time  of  profound  calm,  foretold 
the  controversy,  and  its  violence.  He  foretold  it  de- 
liberately, and  in  a  sermon  preached  in  1650.  The 
churches,  he  said,  will  "  come  to  be  broken  by  schism, 
and  sudden  censures,  and  angry  removes."  Ere  they 
are  aware,  he  added,  there  will  be  in  them  "  prayers 
against  prayers,  hearts  against  hearts,  tears  against 
tears,  tongues  against  tongues,  fasts  against  fasts, 
and  horrible  prejudices  and  underminings."  How 
quick,  alas,  did  his  own  Church  become  'the  stage 
of  all  these  tragedies  ! ' 

And  now,  Reader,  in  imitation  of  the  Puritan 
preachers  of  the  olden  time,  let  us  put  the  story  we 
have  told  you — the  historical  sermon  we  have  deliv- 
ered— to  a  few  '  Uses.''  It  was  said  of  our  own 
colonial  Leader,  Mr.  Hooker,  that  he  was  '  the  best 
at  an  Use'  of  any  divine  of  his  day — so  skilful 
was  he  in  this  theological  appliance,  so  close,  so 
moving  I  We  will  follow  his  example,  briefly,  in 
our  own  lay  way.     Attention,  all ! 

The  subject  we  have  treated  should  teach  us,  in 
the  first  place,  religious  composure.  Let  us  never 
make  '  fretful  porcupines'  of  our  hearts  in  matters  ec- 
clesiastical !  Stick  these  delicate  organs  with  '  quills,' 
and  fill  them  with  gall,  and  point  them  with  anger, 


ITS    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY.  231 

and  you  at  once  gangrene  the  substance  of  all  true 
religious  sensibility  I 

In  the  second  place,  we  should  exercise  an  enlarged 
Christian  charity.  Who  cherishes  no  error?  Who 
commits  no  mistake  ?  Prepare  for  him  a  Crystal 
Palace !     The  world  will  gather  to  look  upon  him ! 

In  the  third  place,  we  should  practice  religious  Tol- 
eration. We  don't  all  see  alike.  We  don't  all  feel 
alike.  We  cannot.  It  was  not  intended  that  we 
should.  Who  made  us  to  differ  ?  God !  The 
Almighty  then  is  a  Tolerationist !  Weak  man,  Aveak 
woman,  ought  you  not  to  be  so  too  ? 

Keep  cool,  be  charitable,  be  tolerant — in  all  differ- 
ences of  religious  faith  and  practice,  Keep  Cool — Be 
CHARITABLE — Be  TOLERANT  !  Thcsc,  Reader,  are  the 
Uses  of  our  subject  to-day.  Are  they  not  good? 
Practised  upon,  will  they  not  create  and  perpetuate 
religious  harmony  ?  God's  earth,  be  it  remembered, 
is  a  sublime  instrument,  to  be  touched  only  lovingly 
by  mortal  fingers  in  his  praise !  Strike  it  as  if  each 
key  knew  not,  or  hated  the  other,  and  you  have  a  Ba- 
bel of  sounds  with  which  the  harps  of  heaven  have 
no  sympathy — not  one  symphony  in  common.  But 
touch  it  as  if  the  love  of  sisters  affiliated  its  chords, 
and  it  will  respond  in  tones  that  will  at  once  waft 
your  soul's  devotion  to  the  skies,  to  join  in  the  music 
of  all  the  spheres,  and  mingle  with  the  immortal  har- 
mony of  Paradise!  Sc^va. 


gartfarli. 


CODE  OF  1650.     PECULIAR  LAWS.    PUNISHMENTS. 
PERIOD  SECOND. 

No.  23. 

"  With  a  firm  and  skilful  hand 
Mayest  thou  uphold  the  laws ;  and  keep  them  ever 
Above  the  proud  man's  violence,  and  mthin 
The  poor  man's  reach." 

Anon. 

"  But  as  in  tempest  or  winter  one  course  and  garment  is  convenient,  in 
calm  or  warm  weather  a  more  liberal  case  or  lighter  garment  both  may  and 
ought  to  be  followed  and  used,  so  we  have  seen  diverse  straight  and  sore 
laws  made  in  one  parliament,  (the  time  so  requiring,)  in  a  more  calm  and 
quiet  reign  of  another  prince  by  the  like  authority  and  parliament  taken 
away."  ,  Statute  1.  £dw.  VI.  c.  12- 

In  May,  1650,  a  Code  of  Laws,  the  first  in  our  his- 
tory, and  the  work  of  Roger  Ludlow,  emphatically 
the  jurisprudent  of  his  day,  was  concluded  and  estab- 
lished. In  view  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  framed — 
in  view,  particularly,  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
Connecticut  Colony,  its  newness,  its  family  character, 
and  its  earnest  and  at  times  feverish  estimate  of  the 
ends  and  claims  of  religion,  no  Code  was  ever,  upon 
the  whole,  more  happily  adapted  to  promote  the  inter- 
ests, and  sustain  the  growth  of  fresh  emigrants,  gath- 
30 


234  HARTFORD.        CODE    OF    1650. 

ered  in  a  new  country  to  found  a  State.  Much  there 
is  in  it  to  us  singular,  to  us  utterly  inapplicable — 
some  things  that  actually  force  our  laughter — ^but 
much  at  the  same  time  that  challenges  our  respect. 
When,  at  the  very  portico  of  this  Code,  we  find  it 
commanded,  that  no  man's  life  shall  be  taken  away — 
no  man's  honor  or  good  name  be  stained — no  man's 
person  be  arrested,  restrained,  banished,  dismembered, 
or  in  any  way  punished — no  man  be  deprived  of  his 
wife  or  children — no  man's  goods  or  estate  be  taken 
from  him,  or  in  any  way  endamaged,  under  color  of 
law  or  countenance  of  authority — unless  it  be  by  the 
virtue  or  equity  of  some  express  Law  of  the  Country 
warranting  the  same,  and  sufficiently  published,  or  in 
case  of  the  defect  of  a  law  in  a  particular  case,  by 
the  "Word  of  God — when  we  find,  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked, such  vital  orders  as  these  heralding  the  great 
body  of  statutes  in  the  first  Code  of  Connecticut — 
orders  which  look  to  the  '  free  fruition'  of  everything 
which  "  Humanity,  Civility  and  Christianity  call  for, 
as  due  to  every  man  in  his  place  and  proportion" — 
we  cannot  but  concede  that  the  '  Tranquility  and 
Stability'  of  the  Church  and  Commonwealth  were 
objects  nearest  and  nobly  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the 
Settlers.  We  must  own  that  the  spirit  of  true  liberty 
directed  their  aims.  We  must  bless  their  purpose, 
however  in  its  execution  they  may,  here  and  there, 
have  marked  their  measures  with  oddity,  or  impressed 
them  with  harshness,  or  tinged  them  with  folly. 

Li  all  that  regards  the  rights  of  persons  and  the 
rights  of  things,  touching  the  acquisition,  ownership, 


PECULIAR    LAWS.       PUNISHMENTS.  235 

enjoyment  and  alienation  of  property  both  real  and 
personal,  and  redress  for  injuries  to  the  same — touch- 
ing trade,  agriculture  and  commerce — the  Code  is  as 
ample  as  the  times  required.  It  guarantees  to  every 
man  the  free  use  and  disposal  of  that  which  is  his 
own,  without  '  injury  or  illegal  diminution,'  and  reg- 
ulates and  protects  to  every  extent,  then  essential, 
the  activities  and  the  wants  of  industry  and  business. 
We  do  not  propose  now  to  dwell  upon  its  provis- 
ions in  these  respects.  We  have  had  frequent  oc- 
casions, in  past  Articles,  to  refer  to  and  state  them. 
But  on  some  of  its  provisions  in  regard  to  private 
and  public  wrongs  it  is  our  purpose  now  to  dwell, 
more  or  less  as  they  are  peculiar  and  reflect  the 
spirit  of  the  day.  We  want  to  know  this  spirit 
as  it  manifested  itself  in  primitive  Hartford.  At 
another  time  we  will  look  at  sections  of  the  Code 
as  they  bore  on  some  of  the  domestic  and  private 
economical  relations. 

Capital  crimes  then,  in  the  first  place,  were  more 
numerous  with  the  Founders  of  our  Town  than  with 
us.  It  was  with  them,  as  not  with  us,  a  capital  of- 
fence to  worship  any  other  than  the  true  God,  or 
to  blaspheme,  or  to  commit  adultery,  or  the  crime 
against  nature,  or  rape,  or  to  practice  witchcraft,  or 
purposely  to  bear  false  witness,  or  to  steal  a  man  or  a 
woman,  or  for  children,  unless  brought  up  in  '  un- 
christian negligence,'  to  curse  or  smite  their  parents, 
or  be  in  their  carriage  stubborn  and  rebellious.  De- 
rived these  were  all  from  the  Mosaic  Code — too  rig- 
idly— unwisely — can   hardly   be   doubted.     Yet   how 


236  HARTFORD.       CODE    OF    1650. 

short  the  step  here  taken  with  the  death-penalty  com- 
pared with  the  enormous  stride  of  boasted  England! 
There,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acts  of  frail  man,  down 
to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  no  less  than 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acts  declared  by  Parliament  to 
be  felonies  without  benefit  of  clergy,  in  other  words 
to  be  worthy  of  instant  death !  What  a  dreadful 
list,  and  how  moderate,  how  merciful,  in  contrast,  is 
that  which  was  in  force  here  I 

To  the  statute  crimes  now  stated  is  to  be  added 
also,  as  peculiar,  the  sin  of  li/ing'.  This  the  Settlers 
could  not  bear  in  even  its  most  ordinary  forms.  We 
punish  it  when  it  appears  in  the  shape  of  entries,  de- 
signedly false,  upon  the  books  of  our  corporations,  or 
in  pretences  for  obtaining  goods,  or  in  testimony, 
falsely  given,  with  intent  to  take  away  life,  or  in  ut- 
tering and  passing  as  money  any  false  tokens.  But 
they  deemed  it  in  all  cases  pernicious.  Early  as 
1641  even,  they  stigmatized  it,  through  their  General 
Court,  as  a  '  foule  and  grosse  sin,'  and  made  every 
person  guilty  of  it  liable  to  fine  or  bodily  correction. 
And  in  their  Code  of  1650,  they  again  solemnly  de- 
nounce it,  and  specifying  those  lies  particularly  which 
are  pernicious  to  the  public  weal,  and  those  which  re- 
dound to  the  injury  of  particular  individuals,  and 
those  again  which  are  employed  "  to  deceive  and 
abuse  the  people  with  false  news  or  reportes,"  go  on 
to  punish  all  persons,  above  the  age  of  fourteen,  who 
are  guilty  of  such  lies,  with  fines,  or  with  the  stocks, 
or  with  stripes — and  all  children,  under  the  age  of 
discretion,  who  '  offend  in  lying,'  are  to  receive,  in  the 


PECULIAR    LAWS.       PUNISHMENTS.  237 

presence  of  an  officer,  '  if  any  rriagistrate  shall  so  ap- 
pointe,'  due  correction  at  the  hands  of  their  parents 
or  masters.  How  the  'white  lie'  fared  does  not  ex- 
actly appear.  It  was  doubtless  severely  frowned  up- 
on. Leniency  of  result  even  hardly  saved  it  from 
castigation.  But  the  common  '  black  lie'  cost  from 
ten  to  forty  shillings,  or  from  ten  to  forty  stripes,  or 
the  stocks.  How  our  public  treasury  would  be  re- 
plenished were  such  the  law  now !  Far  be  it  from  us 
to  vilify,  but  we  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  each  lie 
told  every  day,  in  our  streets,  and  in  our  dwellings, 
were  made  tributary  to  the  public  fisc,  our  load  of 
taxation  would  be  sensibly  lightened.  Not  that  you 
lie,  gentle  Reader,  or  you,  or  you,  or  you,  or  we — God 
forefend — but  that  "  other  people  do  ."'" 

It  was  also  a  peculiar  offence,  in  the  Period  of 
which  we  speak,  not  to  attend  church.  It  cost  a  man 
then  five  shillings  to  stay  away — each  time  that  he 
did.  We  rather  think  our  Town  Treasury  would  be 
somewhat  replenished  from  this  source  too,  were  this 
old  fine  in  force  now.  Don't  you,  Reader?  There 
would  be  at  least  cash  enough  collected,  we  opine,  to 
defray  the  cost  of  many  of  those  expiatory  fat  tur- 
keys, and  bovine  '  Second- Cuts,'  and  South-Down 
quarters  of  mutton,  and  venison  saddles,  which  on 
Christmas  and  Thanksgiving  Days,  absentees  send, 
with  loving  compliments,  to  their  pastor — thinking, 
alas,  that  the  fire  of  his  rebuke  cannot  stand  before 
the  superior  fire  of  that  "  mighty  artillery  of  sauces 
which  the  Cook-Fiend  conjures  up!"  'Mistaken 
souls,  that  dream  of  heaven ! '  But  we  would  not  be 
personal  in  this  matter — no  not  we ! 


238  HARTFORD.       CODE    OF    1650. 

Let  us  look  then  at  another  singular  law  about  re- 
ligion in  the  times  of  which  we  speak.  A  person 
guilty  of  contemning  God's  word  or  his  messengers, 
was  to  be  punished,  for  the  first  offence,  by  open  re- 
proof and  bonds  for  good  behavior — for  the  second, 
by  a  fine  of  five  povmds,  and  by  being  compelled  to 
stand  publicly,  upon  a  block  or  stool  four  feet  high, 
upon  a  Lecture  Day,  with  a  paper  fixed  upon  his 
breast   containing,  in    capital   letters,  the    words,  an 

OPEN      AND      OBSTINATE      CONTEMNER      OF      GOd's      HOLY 

ORDINANCES.  How  the  defamer  of  his  Maker  must 
have  looked  thus  labelled!  Unwise  the  punishment! 
Public  disgrace  never  yet  turned  erring  man  to  God. 
Steep  his  sin  in  the  dye  of  the  world's  despite, 
and  you  may  blacken  his  sin,  but  will  never  whiten 
the  sinner. 

All  other  offences  than  those  we  have  now  particu- 
larized, were  such  as  are  recognized  and  as  are  famil- 
iar at  the  present  day.  They  were  the  ordinary  of- 
fences against  the  public  justice,  peace,  trade,  health, 
and  police  or  domestic  economy  of  the  Common- 
wealth.    Turn  we  to  look  at  punishments. 

There  were,  as  now,  the  gallows,  the  jail,  the  work- 
house, fines,  damages  to  parties  injured,  &c,,  but  also 
the  stocks,  whipping,  and  the  public  censure  of  the 
General  Court — penalties  not  now  known  to  our  law. 
Whipping  was  a  very  common  resort — at  the  cart's 
tail — upon  a  Lecture  Day — and  to  be  performed  by 
those  who,  having  been  publicly  corrected  for  some 
misdemeanor,  were  liable  at  any  time  to  be  called  out 
by  the   Governor,  or  by  any  Magistrate,  to  excoriate 


PECULIAR    LAWS.       PUNISHMENTS.  239 

offenders  with  the  lash.  They  set  the  rogues  to  flog- 
ging the  rogues.  But  this  barbarous  and  worse  than 
useless  mode  of  punishment  is,  fortunately,  in  our 
day  abandoned.  We  were  ourself  "  in  at  the  death" 
of  one  of  the  last  whipping-posts  in  the  State,  when 
a  boy  at  College.  We  remember  the  fact  with  satis- 
faction. It  was  in  New  Haven,  now  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago — one  stormy,  fierce  night — mid- 
night— when  the  Authorities  were  all  asleep.  Down 
went  then,  with  'much  difficulty,  for  it  was  old  and 
harder  much  than  the  bare-backed  sins  it  was  in  the 
habit  of  sustaining,  down  went  that  aceldamic  sup- 
port for  shrieks,  and  gushing  blood,  and  for  hearts 
which  with  each  drop  they  lost  grew  more  indurated 
in  crime !  Down  it  went  there  where  it  stood  by  the 
side  of  the  old  Court  House  of  the  City,  and  nobody 
knew  who  did  it  but  the  four  or  five  young  College 
boys  who  were  agents  in  the  affair,  and  God,  who 
looked  through  the  darkness  and  the  storm,  and  said, 
"  Well  done  I"  We  can  hear  that  voice  even  now, 
sounding  through  the  depths  of  time  its  sublime  tone 
of  approbation !  What  should  we  do  were  the  Au- 
thorities of  New  Haven  to  prosecute  us,  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  upon  this  our  public  confession  ?  What 
plead  in  such  a  case  ?  Lapse  of  time  ?  No.  Im- 
maturity, as  a  boy?  No.  What  then?  Human- 
ity— justice  to  the  whipping-post  itself — public  opin- 
ion— the  public  weal !  Good  defences  all !  We 
think  they  would  clear  us. 

But  to  return.     There  was  for  burglary,  or  robbery 
in  the  field  or  highways,  a  peculiar  penalty.     For  the 


240  HARTFORT).       CODE    OF    1650. 

first  offence  the  criminal  was  to  be  branded  with  the 
letter  B — for  the  second  again  branded  and  severely 
whipped.  If  he  committed  the  offence  on  the  Lord's 
day,  one  of  his  ears  was  to  be  cut  off — if  he  repeated 
it  on  the  same  day,  his  other  ear  was  to  be  cut  off, 
and  if  a  third  time  guilty  he  was  to  suffer  death. 
Forgery  was  punished  by  the  pillory  for  three  days, 
the  payment  of  double  damages  to  the  party  injured, 
and  by  disqualification  to  act  either  as  witness  or 
juryman.  Fornication  was  punished  either  by  fine, 
whipping,  or  by  2i  prohibition  to  marry ^  or  by  all  three 
penalties  combined.  Small  thefts  were  subject  pretty 
much  to  the  discretion  of  magistrates  and  courts.  So 
was  idleness,  especially  that  of  "  common  coasters,* 
unprofitable  fowlers,  and  tobacco-takers."  Profane 
swearing  was  followed  by  a  fine  of  ten  shillings, 
or  by  the  stocks.  In  addition  to  the  penalties  now 
mentioned,  civil  disqualification  was  much  more  ex- 
tended than  with  us.  It  was  applied  to  all  persons 
either  fined  or  whipped  for  any  scandalous  oftence. 
Such  were  to  have  no  vote  either  in  Town  or  Com- 
monwealth "  until  the  Court  [should]  manifest  their 
satisfaction." 

With  regard  to  places  of  punishment.  There  was 
first  a  House  of  Correction,  which  was  ordered  in 
1640,  and,  in  1649,  was  kept  by  William  Rescew  at  a 
salary  of  ten  pounds  a  year.  There  was  a  Prison- 
House — spoken  of  first  in  1652,  though  doubtless  one 
of  some  sort  existed  before.     A  new  one  was  built, 

*  Loafers,  we  suppose — in  modern  parlance. 


PECULIAR    LAWS.       PUNISHMENTS.  241 

however,  in  the  year  just  mentioned,  and  Daniel  Gar- 
rit  was  its  first  jailor.  It  was  enlarged  in  1664. 
There  was  also  a  Town-House,  for  the  first  time  spo- 
ken of  near  the  close  of  1658.  These  buildings, 
though  the  first  two  belonged  to  the  Colony,  were  all 
located  in  Hartford — the  Prison  probably  near  the 
south-west  corner  of  present  State  and  Market  streets. 
What  were  its  regulations  ?  Here  History  is  silent. 
We  should  like  to  know  its  system  of  discipline. 
It  might  perhaps,  in  some  respects,  teach  us  moderns 
a  lesson. 

And  now,  Reader,  in  conclusion,  we  think  we  may 
with  justice  say  that  our  ancestors  had  many  very 
exact  notions  both  as  to  the  nature,  and  ends,  and  the 
measure  of  punishment — notions  which  "were  in  the 
main  conformable  to  those  which  now  prevail.  With 
them,  as  with  us,  crimes  were  such  either  by  force  of 
intrinsic  turpitude,  or  of  legislative  prohibition,  and 
those  of  the  latter  class,  however  they  may  appear 
now,  were  as  truly  a  reflex  of  the  spirit  of  the  day, 
and  as  justly  the  offspring  of  local  exigencies  and 
supposed  public  necessity,  as  are  those  of  our  own 
time.  There  was  not  a  particle  of  the  lex  taliunis 
in  their  system — no  eye  for  an  eye,  or  tooth  for  a 
tooth.  In  regard  to  sanguinary  punishments  they 
were  Porcians  indeed  in  comparison  Avith  England — 
for  they  abrogated  at  once,  with  mercy  and  with 
judgment,  the  more  than  twelve,  nay  the  more  than 
one  hundred  bloody  Tables  of  their  father-land.  To 
prevent   crime    by   reforming  offenders,  by  depriving 

them  of  the  power   to   do   future   mischief,  and   by 
31 


242  HARTFORD. 

deterring  others  through  the  dread  of  their  examples, 
such  was  the  object  of  their  criminal  code,  and 
such  is  the  true  object  of  every  enlightened  modern 
code.  In  this  respect  certainly  the  Settlers  of  Hart- 
ford, in  common  with  those  of  sister  towns  in  the 
Colony,  were  not  behind  our  own  times. 

Sc^VA. 


fartfortr. 


DUTCHPOINT.    ITS   HISTORY.    PERIODS 
FIRST  AND  SECOND. 

No.  24. 

"  The  veteran  Oothoiit,  at  a  concerted  signal,  stepped  forth  in  the  assem- 
bly [at  Hartford]  with  the  identical  tarpauling  spy-glass  in  his  hand,  with 
which  he  had  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  while  the  worthy 
Dutch  Commissioners  lolled  back  in  their  chairs,  secretly  chuckling  at  the 
idea  of  having  for  once  got  the  weather-gage  of  the  Yankees;  but  what  was 
their  dismaj'  when  the  latter  produced  a  Nantucket  whaler  with  a  spy-glass, 
twice  as  long,  with  which  he  discovered  the  whole  coast,  quite  down  to  the 
Manhattoes ;  and  so  crooked  that  he  had  spied  with  it  up  the  whole  course  of 
the  Connecticut  River.  Therefore,  the  Yankees  had  a  right  to  the  whole 
country  bordering  on  the  Sound;  nay,  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam  was  a 
mere  Dutch  squatting  place  on  their  territories." 

Knklcerbocker'' s  Neio  YorJc. 

It  is  1614 — thereabouts — and  up  the  Connecticut 
River — stemming  one  of  the  most  placid  and  majes- 
tic currents  of  the  New  World — mirrored  in  a  glassy 
bosom  that  never  before  reflected  aught  save  the 
canoe  of  the  Indian — a  little  yacht  of  sixteen  tons 
comes  threading  the  long  watery  channel  of  a  dense 
wilderness.  It  is  a  Dutch  vessel,  the  Onrust,  or  Rest- 
less, commanded  either  by  Adriaen  Block  or  by  Skip- 
per Cornells  Hendricxsen,  or  by  both  together,  the  one 
as  captain,  the  other  as  mate — and  it  is  on  a  voyage 


244  HARTFORD. 

of  discovery.*  It  reaches  the  present  site  of  Hart- 
ford. It  passes  a  little  beyond — near  to  the  Falls. 
The  skipper  is  busy  the  while  noting  each  remarkable 
appearance  around  him,  and  rudely  mapping  contours 
of  hill,  and  dale,  and  stream,  and  outlines  of  forest, 
and  groups  of  wigwams.  The  yacht  descends  to  the 
sea.  It  returns  to  New  Amsterdam.  It  has  borne 
the  first  white  crew  up  and  down  the  Fresh  River ! 
The  Dutch  claim  Connecticut! 

Not  so  fast,  men  of  old  Batavia,  exclaimed  the  sons 
of  Albion — Stop!  John  Cabot  and  Sebastian  Cabot, 
in  1495  and  1497,  by  order  of  Henry  the  Seventh  of 
England,  sailed  along  the  coast  of  this  continent — 
the  one  a  part,  the  other  the  whole  of  its  extent — 
from  the  fifty-sixth  to  the  thirty-eighth  degree  of 
north  latitude,  and  explored  it.  The  royal  order  com- 
manded them  to  take  possession  of  the  new  countries 
they  should  discover — in  the  name  of  the  King. 
They  did  so.  By  virtue  then  of  commissions  from 
the  British  throne,  by  force  of  priority  of  discov- 
ery— that  acknowledged  principle  of  European  polity 
which  regulated  the  exercise  of  the  rights  of  sover- 


*  We  cannot  determine  positively  which  commanded — Block  or  Hendricx- 
sen.  Most  accounts  represent  Block  as  master.  But  the  Map  of  the  country 
made  at  this  time,  and  presented  to  the  States  General  of  Holland,  is  in  the 
name  of  Hendricxsen.  We  have  seen  it  stated  also  that  Hendricxsen  accom- 
panied Block  as  his  lieutenant  or  mate.  It  is  a  singular  and  interesting  fact 
with  regard  to  the  yacht  employed,  that  she  was  built  in  New  York,  and  was 
the  first  vessel,  of  which  we  have  any  account,  that  was  built  in  that  port. 
Her  name,  the  Restless,  is  prophetic  enough  for  that  "restless  metropolis, 
whose  enterprising  commerce  now  pushes  its  wharves  into  the  sea,  blocks  up 
the  wide  rivers  with  its  fleets,  and  sending  its  ships,  the  pride  of  naval  archi- 
tecture, to  every  clime,  defies  every  wind,  outrides  every  tempest,  and  in- 
vades ever\'  zone." 


DUTCH  POINT.   ITS  HISTORY.        245 

eignty  and  settlement  in  all  the  cis- Atlantic  Planta- 
tions— the  whole  vast  region  from  Labrador  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  belongs  to  the  British  crown.  By 
the  title  of  prior  discovery  Spain  holds,  unquestioned, 
all  her  possessions  in  the  New  World.  By  this 
France  claims  Canada  and  Acadie.  By  this  Portu- 
gal maintains  her  right  to  the  Brazils.  And  by  this 
even  you  Dutchmen  yourselves  challenge  ownership 
of  the  whole  territory  on  the  Hudson  river.  We 
refuse  then  your  claim,  Adriaen  or  Cornelis,  to  the 
region  here — that  of  each  or  both  of  you,  and  that 
of  New  Amsterdam,  and  that  of  the  High  and 
Mighty  States  General,  your  master !  We  deny  the 
title  of  you  all  to  an  inch  of  soil  yet  within  the  do- 
main of  Connecticut! 

It  is  1633 — October — and  again  up  the  fair,  the 
glorious  Connecticut,  winds  another  small  vessel,  of 
name  to  us  unknown,  and  nameless  in  history  the 
souls  she  bears.  But  she  is  another  Dutch  yacht.  She 
has  a  Dutch  commander.  She  has  a  Dutch  crew. 
She  is  from  a  Dutch  colony.  She  is  loaded  with 
Dutch  bricks,  with  implements  for  building,  with  am- 
munition and  with  arms.  Down  go  her  sails,  furled 
just  where  our  Little  River  empties  into  its  mighty 
sister.  Up — close  adjoining  on  the  south — goes 
quickly  a  small  compact  fort.  It  is  baptized  the 
House  of  Hope.  It  is  on  land  bought  the  eighth  of 
June  that  has  just  preceded,  from  Pequot  Sachem 
Nepaquash,  by  Jacob  Van  Curter,  by  order  of  Worter 
Van  Twiller,  Governor  of  New  Amsterdam.  The 
Dutch  flag  floats  from  its  ramparts.     Dutch  cannon 


246  HARTFORD. 

bristle  through  its  embrasures.  The  Dutch  claim  the 
lands  of  our  present  township — and  many  more  ad- 
joining— by  possession  and  by  purchase  ! 

Stop  again,  Belgic  adventurers,  exclaimed  the  sons 
of  Albion !  The  broad  seal  of  England  is  upon  all 
America,  which,  between  the  fortieth  and  forty-eighth 
degrees  of  north  latitude,  stretches  a  continent  across 
'  from  sea  to  sea.'  James  of  England  placed  it  there 
thirteen  years  before  you  thought  of  settling  on  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut — and  made  a  special  grant 
of  this  region  to  forty  Englishmen — and  he  baptized 
his  gift  New  England  in  America,  and  ordained  that 
by  this  name  it  should  have  "  continuance  forever." 
Sub-grants — and  before  too  a  single  brick  of  your  fort 
was  laid — bestow  Connecticut  particularly  upon  elev- 
en Englishmen,  noblemen,  knights  and  gentlemen,  to 
whom  alone,  or  to  whose  heirs  or  assigns,  the  right  to 
extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  its  soil  belongs.  Pray 
have  you  never  heard  of  the  great  Council  of  Ply- 
mouth in  the  County  of  Devon,  established  "  for  the 
planting,  ruling  and  governing"  of  this  land,  nor  of 
Robert  Earl  of  Warwick,  nor  of  the  Connecticut  Pa- 
tent of  1631  ?  Pray  have  you  forgotten  that  nineteen 
years  before  you  came  here  to  settle — when  a  Vir- 
ginia squadron  paused  before  your  establishment  at 
the  Manhadoes — you  yourselves,  as  intruders  on  Brit- 
ish territory,  obeyed  Captain  Argal's  summons  of  sur- 
render, and  stipulated  allegiance  to  England,  and  trib- 
ute and  subordination  to  the  government  of  Virginia? 
Vassals  to  the  British  Crown,  by  your  own  confes- 
sion, in  your  own  home  upon  the  Hudson  river,  what 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  247 

right  have  you  to  sovereignty  upon  the  Connecticut  ? 
We  disown  your  power,  uncommissioned  by  English 
authority,  to  purchase  from  the  sons  of  the  forest  one 
foot  of  soil  on  the  banks  of  this  river.  We  deny 
your  right,  without  English  permission,  to  possess 
a  single  rood  of  English  land.  Your  House  of 
Hope  is  built  on  sand.  You  are  intruders !  You 
are  squatters ! 

Reader,  in  the  view  just  given,  we  delineate,  in  its 
exact  shape,  the  bone  of  contention  between  the  En- 
glish and  the  Dutch  at  Hartford.  Each  claimed  trade 
and  settlement  here  by  virtue  of  prior  discovery,  and 
to  this  claim  the  Dutch  added  those  also  of  prior  pur- 
chase and  possession.  The  contest  lasted  with  more 
or  less  of  vehemence,  though  with  occasional  pauses, 
and  tinged  more  or  less  with  bitterness,  down  through 
a  period  of  twenty  years,  till  it  finally  closed  in  the 
total  reduction  of  Dutch  sovereignty  within  our  town- 
ship and  our  State. 

The  first  month  of  Dutch  settlement  was  yet  warm, 
when  a  collision  between  the  opposing  parties  oc- 
curred. William  Holmes  of  Plymouth  Colony,  a  res- 
olute, enterprising  man — with  a  crew  of  resolute 
men — with  the  frame  of  a  house,  and  boards,  and 
nails,  and  all  the  materials  requisite  for  its  immediate 
erection,  and  with  a  commission  from  the  Governor 
of  Plymouth  in  his  pocket,  came  sailing  up  the  river, 
in  a  large  new  bark,  in  the  latter  part  of  October, 
1633,  sternly  resolved  on  effecting  a  settlement,  for 
trading  purposes,  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut. 
He  was  instantly  hailed  as  he  approached  the  Dutch 
fort  in   Hartford.     "  What  do  you  intend,  and  where 


248 


HARTFORD, 


would  you  go,"  inquired  emphatically  Jacola  Van 
Curter,  the  Dutch  commissary  then  in  command. 
"  Up  the  river  to  trade,"  answered  Holmes.  "  Strike 
and  stay,"  shouted  the  Dutchmen,  "  or  we  will 
shoot" — and  they  stood  by  their  two  pieces  of  ord- 
nance ready  to  fire.  "  We  have  a  commission  from 
the  Governor  of  Plymouth,"  replied  Holmes  undaunt- 
edly, "  to  go  up  the  river.  Shoot  or  not,  we  must 
obey  our  order,  and  we  -will !  We  are  not  here  to 
molest  you,  but  we  will  go  on !"  And  on  the  bark 
passed — and  the  Dutch  did  not  fire.  They  doubtless 
feared  the  force  of  Holmes.  It  might  have  been  su- 
perior to  their  own.  They  therefore  contented  them- 
selves for  the  present  with  a  warlike  protest — ^to 
which  Holmes  at  once  replied — and  with  instantly 
dispatching  a  messenger  with  the  news  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Amsterdam.  The  Dutch  Governor  was 
not  long  in  making  answer.  Hardly  had  Holmes 
time,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tunxis  river  in  Windsor,  to 
set  up  his  house — the  first  probably  ever  built  in  Con- 
necticut— and  fortify  it  with  palisades,  and  gather 
within  it  his  chosen  company  of  men,  and  send  his 
bark  back  to  Plymouth,  when  a  band  of  seventy 
Dutch,  consisting  of  those  in  the  fort  at  Hartford  and 
of  recruits  from  the  Manhadoes,  armed  in  full  and 
with  banners  displayed,  appeared  before  his  new  hab- 
itation, apparently  bent  upon  its  assault.  Its  defend- 
ers, though  far  inferior  in  numbers,  were  ready  to  re- 
ceive them.  Full  of  spirit,  full  of  hope,  they  ])resent- 
ed  a  daring  front  to  the  foe.  The  Dutch — did  they 
quail  before  the  heroism  of  this  handful  of  English- 
men ?     No  matter.     They  at  all  events  took  counsel 


DUTCH  POINT.   ITS  HISTORY.        249 

of  their  wisdom.  Tliey  parleyed.  They  were  assured 
by  Holmes  that  he  had  not  taken  a  foot  of  land  which 
they  had  bought — that  he  had  come  to  a  place  aiDOve 
them — and  that  having  purchased  the  tract  which  he 
then  held  of  its  native  proprietors — some  of  whom, 
Attawanott  and  others,  Sachems  of  the  place,  he  had 
brought  home  with  him  in  his  bark — he  should  under 
no  consideration  yield  to  their  claims,  but  maintain 
the  foothold  he  had  got  to  the  last  extremity.  The 
Dutch  retired,  and  never  again,  that  we  can  find,  men- 
aced the  Trading  House  at  Windsor. 

Nor  do  we  find  the  least  symptom  of  any  svccessful 
opposition  in  Hartford  to  those  few  white  settlers 
from  the  old  Bay  State  who  preceded  Mr.  Hooker's 
Grand  Party,  nor  any  to  that  Grand  Party  itself. 
Clear  it  is,  whatever  may  have  been  their  protests — 
and  that  these  were  numerous  Ave  have  no  doubt — 
the  Dutch  did  not  again  resort  to  armed  force  in  order 
to  prevent  English  colonization  here.  Clear  it  is,  that 
within  four  years  after  the  arrival  of  Hooker's  Party, 
all  the  Dutch  possessions  within  our  township  were 
narrowed  down  to  a  small  tract  of  about  twenty-four 
and  a  half  acres  on  the  south  side  of  Little  River 
near  its  mouth — to  a  much  smaller  tract  of  about 
three  acres  on  the  north  side  of  the  same  river,  form- 
ing nearly  what  is  now  known  as  Dutch  Point — and 
to  an  island  of  about  two  acres  which  lay  opposite 
the  House  of  Hope  on  the  east  side  of  the  Great 
River — and  all  this  property,  be  it  remarked,  was  held 
only  by  the  tenure  of  English  sufferance. 

A  curious,  though  brief  picture  of  Hartford  and 
32 


250  HARTFORD. 

the  Dutch,  at  this  very  period,  1639,  is  given  in  the 
pages  of  David  Pieterszen  de  Vries,  a  Dutchman, 
who  was  Master  of  Artillery  in  the  service  of  Hol- 
land, a  famous  voyager,  and  busy  for  a  long  period 
of  his  life  in  planting  colonies.  He  sailed  up  the 
Connecticut  to  Hartford  in  the  year  of  which  we 
speak,  and  the  extract  we  give  is  from  his  own 
Journal  kept  at  this  time.  It  is  really  a  gem  in 
its  way,  and  cannot  fail,  we  are  confident,  to  interest 
the  Reader.     It  is  as  follows  : 

"In  the  morning  of  the  7th  [June,]  we  came  opposite  de  VerscTie 
Riviere  [the  Connecticut.]  We  went  up  the  river,  and  on  the  9th 
arrived  with  my  yacht  at  the  fort  liet  liuys  de  Hoop,  where  we  found 
one  Gysbert  Yan  Dyek  as  commander,  with  14  or  15  soldiers.  This 
fort  is  situated  near  the  river  on  a  small  creek,  forming  there  a  fall. 
The  English  had  also  begun  to  build  there  a  town  (Hartford)  against 
our  will,  and  had  already  a  fine  church  and  more  than  a  hundred 
houses  erected.  The  commander  gave  me  orders  to  protest  against 
their  proceedings.  He  added  that  some  of  his  soldiers  had  prohibited 
them  to  put  a  plough  into  the  ground,  as  it  was  our  land  that  we  had 
bought  of  the  Indians  and  paid  for;  but  they  opposed  them  and  had 
given  a  drubbing  to  the  soldiers.  When  I  came  to  the  settlement,  the 
English  governor  invited  me  to  dinner.  I  told  him  during  dinner, 
that  he  had  acted  very  improperly  in  taking  the  lands  of  the  compa- 
ny, which  were  bought  and  paid  for  by  them.  He  answered  me  that 
these  lands  were  lying  uncultivated ;  that  we  had  been  already  here 
several  years,  and  nothing  was  done  to  improve  the  ground ;  that  it 
was  a  sin  to  leave  so  valuable  lands  uncultivated,  such  fine  crops 
could  be  raised  upon  them  ;  that  they  had  already  built  three  towns 
on  this  river,  in  wiiich  was  abundance  of  salmon,  &c.  The  English 
here  live  soberly.  They  drink  only  three  times  every  meal,  and  those 
that  become  drunk  are  whipped  on  a  pole,  as  the  thieves  are  in 
Holland." 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  251 

A  quaint,  marked,  pleasing,  though  somewhat 
'  Dutchified '  picture — is  it  not,  Reader  ?  And  bring- 
ing Hartford,  in  some  of  its  aspects,  two  hundred  and 
fourteen  years  ago,  rather  vividly  before  the  mind ! 
And  important  too  for  all  its  facts !  Here  we  have 
the  name  of  the  commander  of  the  Dutch  fort — Gys- 
bert  Van  Dyck — and  the  number  of  soldiers  who 
manned  it — fourteen  or  fifteen — truly  not  a  very  for- 
midable force.  Then  we  have  a  "  fine  church"  be- 
longing to  the  English  Settlers.  "F{«e" — this  is 
much  for  an  experienced  observer,  like  de  Vries, 
to  say  of  the  first  temple  of  worship  in  a  wilderness 
town !  Then  we  have  nearly  the  number  of  houses 
already  erected  in  Hartford — "  more  than  an  hun- 
dred." There  was  an  English  population  then  here, 
probably,  of  some  four  or  five  hundred.  Then  we 
have  the  persevering  Dutchmen  gliding  out  from  their 
House  of  Hope  into  the  fields  where  the  English- 
men are  at  work,  and  protesting  against  them  and 
their  ploughs — and  receiving  for  their  pains — a  '  drub- 
bing!^ We  have  no  doubt  it  was  a  sound  one. 
'  Breath'st  thou,'  might  have  exclaimed  with  empha- 
sis the  Englishman  to  the  Dutch  remonstrant,  if 
Milton  had  only  happened  to  have  written  his  Par- 
adise Lost  at  this  time — 

"Breath'st  thou  defiance  here  and  scorn 
Where  I  reign  King?     Back  [with]  thy  punishment, 
And  to  thy  speed  add  wings!" 

Then  we  have  de  Vries  taking  a  comfortable  dinner 
with  Governor  John  Haynes,  and  with  Mrs.  Haynes 
and  the  children,  in  his  mansion  at  the  corner  of  pres- 


252 


HARTFORD. 


ent  Arch  and  Front  streets — and  telling  the  Govern- 
or— we  suppose  politely — that  he  and  his  party  had 
no  business  here — and  the  Governor  courteously  re- 
plying that  they  had.  But  oh  David  Pieterszen  de 
Vries,  we  fear  that  you  do  not  report  all  that  good, 
learned,  sagacious  John  Haynes  told  you.  He  doubt- 
less said  it  was  a  '  sin'  to  have  lands  so  '  valuable'  as 
those  of  Hartford  unimproved — as  your  countrymen 
had  left  them — but  we  ^vill  wager  the  most  valuable 
curiosity  in  our  Sanctum — our  Egyptian  Ibis,  for  in- 
stance, which  is  w^orth  its  weight  in  gold — that  he 
also  told  you  of  the  Cabots,  and  the  Broad  Seal  of 
England,  and  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  and  the  Pat- 
ent of  Connecticut,  and  sent  you  home  to  report  to 
your  prompter  at  the  Fort  that  it  was  best  for  him, 
and  his  countrymen,  to  "pull  up  stakes,"  and  be  off  I 

But  if  he  did,  Reader,  the  Dutch  were  not  yet 
ready  to  obey  his  advice — and  did  not.  They  stuck 
to  their  claims  with  proverbial  pertinacity — and  so  to 
their  own  did  the  Hartford  Settlers.  An  earnest  cor- 
respondence ensued  between  the  parties — voluminous 
enough  certainly  on  the  part  of  the  English — but 
really  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch  so  incessantly  fulmi- 
nated— "  letter  after  letter,  protest  after  protest,  bad 
Latin,  worse  English,  and  hideous  Low  Dutch,"  as  to 
give  more  the  air  of  truth  than  of  travesty  to  Died- 
rich  Knickerbocker's  description  of  the  '  choleric  little 
governor'  Kieft  as  wearing  out,  by  constant  cam- 
paigning, "  the  four  and  twenty  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet, which  formed  his  standing  army."  Some  of  this 
correspondence  remains — that  especially  between  the 


'//'    /// 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  253 

Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  En- 
gland and  the  Dutch  officials.  It  reveals  the  daily- 
collisions,  many  of  them  with  particularity,  between 
the  parties  here  in  Hartford.  We  digest  an  account 
of  some  of  them,  and  of  some  complaints  also,  as 
made  on  both  sides,  that  our  Readers  may  look  down 
on  the  Point,  and  around  our  Town,  and  see  the  old 
quarrel  nearly  as  it  was — "  going  on."  The  picture 
will  be  found  entertaining.  Let  us  look  then  first  at 
the  side  of  the  English.  They  complain — in  the 
years  1646,  1650,  and  1653 — as  follows : 

1.  That  an  Indian  captive,  who  was  liable  to  public 
punishment,  fled  from  her  master  in  Hartford  to  the 
House  of  Hope,  and  was  there  entertained — that 
though  demanded  by  a  Magisti-ate,  the  Dutch  agent 
refused  to  give  her  up — and  that  she  was  either  mar- 
ried to  one  of  his  men,  or  by  some  one  of  them 
abused — that  such  treatment  as  this  of  a  servant,  who 
was  "  part  of  her  master's  estate,  and  a  more  consid- 
erable part  than  a  beast,"  endangered  the  security  of 
the  children  of  Hartford — that  the  Dutch  agent  him- 
self, upon  a  certain  occasion,  in  the  height  of  disorder 
and  in  contempt  of  authority,  did  resist  the  watch  of 
the  Town,  and  draAV  and  break  his  rapier  upon  their 
weapons  and  escape  by  flight — and  that  upon  another 
occasion  the  same  agent,  with  four  of  his  men,  did 
forcibly  seize  some  of  the  Dutch  horses  that  had  been 
impounded  for  doing  damage  to  the  English  corn, 
and  in  seizing  them  did  assault  and  strike  an  En- 
glishman "  who  legally  sought  justice,  and  did  in  an 
hostile  way  take  away  his  team  and  lading." 


254 


HARTFORD. 


2.  That  the  Dutch  at  the  Fort  were  in  the  habit  of 
entertaining  English  fugitives  also,  of  persuading 
them  to  run  away  from  their  masters,  and  of  assisting 
them  to  file  off  their  irons  and  escape  when  impris- 
oned— that  in  the  instance  particularly  of  one  notori- 
ous delinquent,  who  was  imprisoned  at  Hartford  for  a 
capital  offence,  a  negi-o  belonging  to  the  Dutch  aided 
him  to  break  prison  and  escape,  and  was  not  called  to 
account  by  his  masters  for  this  insufferable  injury — 
that  the  Dutch  purchased  stolen  goods,  and  would  not 
give  them  up  after  demand  made  and  satisfaction  of- 
fered— that  they  refused  also  to  pay  for  goods  which 
their  public  agents  in  Hartford  had  taken  up — and 
that  they  married  English  couples  whose  marriage 
had  been  refused  in  the  English  Plantations. 

3.  That  in  addition  to  the  injuries  already  stated, 
and  others  of  the  like  nature,  the  Dutch  at  Hartford, 
particularly  David  Pi-ovost  the  agent  there,  were  in 
the  habit  of  putting  their  cattle  in  the  cornfields  of 
the  English — that  they  opposed  the  erection  of  parti- 
tion fences  between  themselves  and  the  English,  and 
cut  them  down — that  they  disturbed  the  English 
when  they  were  "  plowing,  sowing  and  reaping  their 
ground  and  corn" — that  several  times  provoking  af- 
fronts of  this  character  were  given,  and  the  Dutch 
had  grown  "  to  a  high  and  insufferable  boldness." 

Ijet  us  look  now  at  the  Dutch  side  of  the  picture  of 
dissension.  In  a  document  entitled  "-4  short  Abstract 
out  of  the  Register,  and  record  of  Passages  betivixt 
the  Nev)  Netherlands  and  the  English  nation,^^  &c.,  to 
the  '  eastivard,^  signed  by  Governor  Peter  Stuyvesant, 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  255 

and  by  Carle  Van  Brigge  as  Secretary,  and  bearing 
date  the  twenty-sLxth  of  May,  1653,  the  Dutch  com- 
plain as  follows : 

1.  That  April  25th,  1640,  the  English  in  Hartford 
not  only  prevented  the  Dutch  there  from  sowing  lands 
which  the  latter  had  purchased  and  broken  up,  but 
themselves  sowed  these  lands  with  corn — that  they 
beat  the  servants  of  the  honored  Company  when  they 
were  laboring  in  their  masters'  fields,  and  drove  them 
off  with  sticks  and  plow-staves,  'in  hostile  manner 
laming' — and  that  in  particular,  among  the  rest,  they 
"  struck  Ever  Duckings  a  hole  in  his  head,  with  a 
stick,  so  that  the  blood  ran  down,  very  strongly  down 
upon  his  body." 

2.  That  April  25th,  1640,  the  Constable  of  Hart- 
ford came  upon  the  Dutch  land,  with  ten  armed 
men,  when  the  Dutch  were  plowing,  and  smote  their 
horses  with  sticks  so  that  the  latter  were  frightened 
and  broke  their  '  geares  in  sunder — and  that  not- 
withstanding a  formal  protest  made  to  Mr.  Hopkins, 
then  Governor,  the  English  continued  to  hinder  them 
in  the  possession  and  cultivation  of  their  land,  "  yea 
with  blows  and  strokes  even  to  the  shedding  blood, 
as  can  be  justified." 

3.  That  May  30th,  1640,  one  of  the  Dutch  horses 
was  taken  away  from  the  'vlacts'  of  Siagock,  where  he 
was  pasturing,  by  the  servant  of  Governor  Hopkins, 
upon  pretence  that  he  had  eaten  their  grass — when  in 
fact  he  had  not. 

4.  That  June  21st,  the  English  of  Hartford  took 
away  a  cow  and  calf  belonging  to  the  Dutch,  which 


256  HARTFORD. 

Avere    pasturing    upon  the  'way  vlact,'   and   brought 
them  into  the  English  village. 

5.  That  June  28th,  an  English  minister  took  hay 
which  the  Dutch  had  cut  and  made  on  their  own 
land,  and  applied  it  to  his  own  use  without  giving 
any  recompense. 

6.  That  at  various  times  during  1641,  1642,  and 
1643,  the  English  renewed  their  attacks  upon  the 
Dutch  while  the  latter  were  cultivating  their  own 
lands,  beating  and  maiming  the  plowmen  and  horses, 
cutting  the  strings  of  their  plows,  and  in  one  in- 
stance throwing  plow,  gearing  and  all  into  the  river. 

7.  That  upon  various  occasions  they  drove  away 
and  sold  the  horses,  cattle  and  hogs  of  the  Dutch — 
now  a  single  hog — now  another — now  five  yearling 
hogs — now  all  the  horses — now  all  the  cattle — driving 
them  away  into  the  village  pound  from  the  Common, 
or  vlact  Sicajocka,  to  the  great  aflront  and  insupport- 
able injury  of  the  'high  and  mighty'  Dutch  Company. 

8.  That  the  English  set  posts  and  rails,  and  thwart- 
ed the  way  irom  the  Dutch  Fort  to  their  woodland, 
and  denied  them  the  use  of  the  wood. 

9.  That  the  English  asserting  jurisdiction  even 
within  the  House  of  Hope,  did  plow  the  lands  close 
up  to  the  Fort. 

10.  That  they  even  prevented  the  Dutch  from  driv- 
ing their  own  cattle  to  the  New  Netherlands. 

But  enough,  Reader,  has  now  been  presented  to 
give  you  an  insight,  quite  exact,  into  the  old  daily 
dissensions  between  the  English  and  the  Dutch  at 
Hartford.  The  picture  on  both  sides  is  the  more  in- 
teresting— we  trust  you  have  found  it  so — from    its 


DUTCH  POINT.   ITS  HISTORY.        257 

particularity.  You  see  the  parties  in  actual  collision — 
in  forcible  collision.  The  drubbing  of  which  de  Vries 
has  spoken  you  find  to  have  been  in  fact  a  sound 
one — nay  more,  carried  far  beyond  moderation.  You 
know  what  the  contestants  did.  You  can  easily  im- 
agine what  they  said.  Their  warfare  was  emphati- 
cally a  border  one — and  it  was  obstinate,  pervaded  on 
both  sides  with  a  valorous  hate,  and  though  painful, 
was  yet  in  portions  of  its  display,  it  must  be  conced- 
ed, certainly  amusing.  Those  assaults  we  have  de- 
scribed, with  their  attendant  frowns  and  batteries  of 
words !  Those  sticks  and  plow-staves  so  unceremo- 
niously flying  about  Dutch  heads !  That  Ever  Duck- 
ing with  such  a  hole  in  his  head!  Those  frightened 
horses  dashing  their  '  geares  in  sunder'  on  the  moni- 
tion of  a  Hartford  constable,  and  the  acid  Batavian 
stare  which  must  have  followed  them  as  they  ran ! 
That  plow  and  tackle  thrown  into  the  river,  with  the 
chucklings  on  one  side,  and  the  bewailing  remon- 
strances on  another  which  doubtless  accompanied 
them  into  their  watery  grave !  Those  cows,  and 
calves,  and  swine,  nabbed  and  renabbed!  Those 
Dutchmen  doubtless  peering  between  the  logs  of  the 
Hartford  pound  after  their  own  dear,  dumpy  cattle 
and  darling  porkers!  Those  Anglo-Saxon  farmers 
plowing  up  to  the  very  nose  of  the  House  of  Hope, 
and  the  denunciation  of  them  unquestionably  by  the 
'  fat,  somniferous'  burghers  within,  as  a  "  dieven, 
twist-zoekeren,  blaes-baken,  kakken-bedden"  set!  Re- 
ally one  may  conceive  a  thousand  mirth-moving 
scenes  from  the  facts  above  given.  Commending 
33 


258 


H  A  RT  FO  RD. 


them  to  the  fertile  imagination  of  a  gentleman  in 
this  city — of  whose  superior  skill  in  pictorial  illus- 
tration ScfEva  already  possesses  signal  proof — we 
return  to  the  serious  scenes  of  the  subject  in  hand 
to-day.*  How  did  the  dispute  we  describe  progress 
and  terminate  ?     Let  us  see. 

Iri  the  first  place  then,  the  entire  power  of  the  colo- 
ny of  Connecticut  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  matter, 
and  of  course,  in  behalf  of  the  English  Settlers. 
Two  messengers,  Mr.  Weytrough  and  AL-.  Hill,  were 
despatched  by  the  Connecticut  Governor  and  Council 
to  the  Directors  and  Council  of  New  iVmsterdam,  to 
urge  the  rights  of  Hartford.  Their  errand  was  fruit- 
less. It  resulted  in  nothing  but  a  re-discussion  of  old 
points.  But  in  1650,  when  Governor  Stuyvesant  met 
the  Commissioners  of  the  New  England  colonies  at 
Hartford,  and  various  differences  were  referred  for  final 
settlement  to  arbitrators — to  Simon  Bradstreet  and 
Thomas  Prince  on  behalf  of  the  English,  and  Thom- 
as   Willett   and    George    Baxter    on    behalf    of    the 


*  We  have  been  allowed,  hei-e,  a  chance  onrself  for  a  note — and  vre 
improve  it  in  order  to  say  that  the  cuts  which  accompany  this  volume 
are  notable  proofs  that  the  hint  given  in  our  text,  took.  Though  beautifully 
drawn  on  wood,  and  in  sevei-al  important  respects  improved  by  the  exact 
skill  of  that  excellent  Boston  ai'tist  S.  S.  Kilbourn,  Jr.,  Esq.,  yet  these  cuts  all 
had  their  germ,  and  in  a  large  pai-t  their  original  delineation,  in  the  fertile  brain 
and  ingenious  hand  of  our  present  worthy  Editor,  W.  M.  B.  Hartley,  Esq. — 
to  whom  we  cheerfully  committed  the  task  of  ushering  the  First  Thirty  Years 
of  Hartford,  in  book  form,  into  the  presence,  and  we  would  fain  hope,  into 
the  heart  of  an  approving  Public.  For  several  valuable  points,  however,  in 
the  cut  which  forms  the  Frontispiece  of  this  volume,  the  Public  is  indebted 
to  a  beautiful  picture  on  the  same  subject  which  was  painted  several  years 
ago  by  Frederick  E.  Church,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  aud  which  now  hangs  in  the 
Wadsworth  Gallery  in  Hartford.  Sc.eva. 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  259 

Dutch — the    dispute    now    under    consideration    was 
referred  among  others — and  it  was  determined : 

1.  That  "the  bounds  [between  Connecticut  and  New  Amster- 
dam] upon  the  main  [were]  to  begin  at  the  west  side  of  Greenwich 
Bay,  being  about  four  miles  from  Stamford,  and  so  to  run  a  northerly- 
line,  twenty  miles  up  into  the  country,  and  after,  as  it  shall  be  agreed 
by  the  two  governments  of  the  Dutch  and  Newhaven,  provided  the 
said  line  come  not  within  ten  miles  of  Hudson's  River." 

This  award  gave  the  whole  of  Connecticut  west  of 
its  Great  River,  with  an  exception  to  be  immediately 
mentioned,  to  the  English,  and  ousted  forever  the 
claim  of  the  Dutch. 

2.  That  "the  Dutch  shall  hold  and  enjoy  all  the  lands  in  Hartford, 
that  they  are  actually  possessed  of,  known  and  set  out  by  certain  marks 
and  bounds,  and  all  the  remainder  of  the  said  land,  on  both  sides  of 
Connecticut  River,  to  be  and  remain  to  the  English  there." 

This  award  shut  up  the  Dutch  in  Hartford  within 
those  limits  of  about  twenty-eight  acres  which  we 
have  already  noticed — took  from  them  all  authority, 
or  color  of  authority,  to  claim  beyond  their  little  pent- 
house on  the  river — and  stopped  the  collisions,  and  to 
quite  an  extent  lulled  the  animosities  between  them 
and  the  English  Settlers,  till  in  1653,  an  Act  of  Se- 
questration, formidable  as  was  ever  any  Bull  from  the 
Vatican,  closed  the  difficulty  forever. 

Over  the  North  Sea,  and  through  the  English  Chan- 
nel, at  this  time  reverberated  the  hostile  cannon  of 
Blake  and  Ayscue,  and  De  Ruyter  and  Tromp,  strug- 
gling for  the  mastery  of  the  seas — struggling  the  one 
party  for  national  predominance  in  the  Councils  of  a 


260 


HARTFORD. 


neighboring  republic,  the  other  for  a  sovereignty  that 
should  be  independent  of  foreign  control.  England 
and  Holland  were  at  war.  An  act  of  Parliament,  in 
consequence,  authorized  the  right  honorable  Council 
of  State  to  empower  the  Governments  of  all  English 
colonies  to  issue  commissions  to  act  against  the  Dutch. 
The  Providence  Plantations  were  among  the  first  to 
be  thus  empowered,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
May,  1653,  commissioned  Captain  John  Underhill  and 
William  Dyer — the  first  as  commander-in-chief  by 
land,  the  latter  by  sea — to  seize  all  Dutch  property, 
and  treat  the  Dutch  themselves,  in  every  respect,  as 
declared  enemies  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England. 
Captain  Underhill  then  resided  upon  Long  Island. 
He  was  a  bold,  active,  military  man.  The  seizure  of 
hostile  property,  under  law  and  custom,  redounded  to 
the  pecuniary  benefit  of  the  chief  agent  in  making  it. 
Moved  partly  by  this  consideration,  partly  also  by  the 
fact  that  he  alone,  perhaps,  at  this  time,  possessed  a 
formal  commission  to  act  in  the  case,  and  moved  also 
partly  by  the  solicitation  of  friends  in  Hartford,  he 
came  to  this  Town  in  June,  1653,  and  in  this  month 
and  year,  accompanied  by  William  Whiting  and 
John  Ingersoll  as  witnesses,  went  down  to  Dutch 
Point,  and  on  the  door  of  the  House  of  Hope,  fas- 
tened the  following  ominous  notice  : 

"I  John  Underhill  do  seize  this  house  and 
land  for  the  State  of  England,  by  virtue  of 
commission  granted  by  Providence  Plantations !" 


Formal,  solemn,  imperious,  sudden,  what  a  conster- 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  261 

nation  this  Notice  must  have  created !  A  bomb  shell 
falling  in  the  Fort  would  not,  we  think,  have  caused 
more!  Particular  too — from  some  hints  we  gather 
about  it,  for  all  of  it  is  not  preserved — particular  even 
to  the  description  of  metes  and  bounds,  and  read  by 
Underhill  in  the  ears  of  the  astonished  Dutchmen,  we 
have  no  doubt,  with  true  Saxon  emphasis,  and  a  man- 
ner and  bearing  such  as  became  the  military  represen- 
tative of  the  high  and  haughty  sovereignty  of  En- 
gland I  The  phlegm  of  the  Hollanders  must  surely 
have  been  stnred  by  this,  else  there  is  no  rigor  in 
words,  and  no  impressiveness  in  the  hand  of  sovereign 
power.  The  blow  was  doubtless  wholly  unexpected. 
There  the  Dutchmen  were,  leisurely  and  lazily  smok- 
ing their  pipes,  and  dining  on  fat  salmon  from  the 
Fresh  River,  and  sleeping  soundly,  under  the  protect- 
ing wings  of  the  Arbitration  of  1650 — safe,  assured, 
careful,  more  so  than  ever,  in  their  conduct,  thought- 
less entirely  of  danger — and  had  been  so  though  the 
war  between  the  mother  countries  had  already  lasted 
many  months.  The  General  Court  of  Connecticut 
had  not  yet  moved  to  dispossess  them.  They  did  not 
think  that  it  would.  Woful  mistake !  The  Court 
had  not  yet,  in  all  probability,  received  its  own  order 
from  England.  But  nine  months,  however,  had 
passed  over  the  event  we  have  just  related,  when 
the  order  came — and  thundering  on  the  back  of  Un- 
derbill's seizure — over-riding  and  disregarding  Un- 
derhill's  act  as  if  it  had  never  taken  place — the 
General  Court  of  Connecticut,  April  6th,  1654 — 
through  its  own,  not  through  the  sovereignty  of  Prov- 
idence   Plantations — by   its    own,    not   by   authority 


262 


HARTFORD. 


derived  from  any  sister  colony  and  delegated  to  some 
subordinate  agent — grasped  the  possessions  of  the 
Dutch  in  Hartford,  and  held  them  by  its  own  strong 
hand.     Read  its  Act  of  Sequestration  ! 

"  This  Courte,  considering  the  order  sent  over  from  the  Counsell 
of  State  by  authority  of  parliament  of  England,  that  as  wee  expect 
all  due  incoridgment,  aide  and  assistance  from  the  said  Common- 
wealth of  England,  soe  it  is  expected  that  wee  should  in  all  cases  so 
demeane  ourselves  against  the  Dutch  as  against  those  that  have  de- 
clared themselves  enemies  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  doe 
therefore  order  and  declare,  that  the  Dutch  house  the  Hope,  with  the 
lands,  buildings  and  fences  thereunto  belonging,  bee  hereby  sequest- 
ered and  reserved,  all  particular  claims  or  pretended  right  thereunto 
notwithstanding,  in  the  behalf  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England, 
till  a  true  tryall  may  be  had  of  the  premises,  and  in  the  meantime 
this  Courte  prohibits  all  persons  whatever  from  improving  of  the 
premises  by  virtue  of  any  former  title  had,  made  or  given,  to  them  or 
any  of  them,  by  any  of  the  Dutch  natyon,  or  any  other,  without  the 
aprobatyon  of  this  Courte,  or  except  it  bee  by  virtue  of  power  and 
order  received  from  them  for  soe  doing;  and  whatever  rent  for  any 
part  of  the  premises  in  any  of  their  hands,  it  shall  not  bee  disposed 
of  but  according  to  what  order  they  shall  receive  from  this  Courte, 
or  the  Magistrates  thereof" 

What  said  the  Dutch  to  this — this  locked,  bolted, 
barred,  and  riveted  appropriation  of  their  property? 
Well — clearly  they  could  not  help  themselves — nor,  so 
far  as  appears,  did  they  ever  attempt  it.  We  hear 
nothing  of  them  in  Hartford  subsequently  to  this  time. 
They  must  have  '  left.'  Let  '  expressive  silence  muse' 
whatever  in  their  '  praise'  it  may  have  in  store ! 

What  said  Captain  Underhill — at  having  his  own 
work,  by  tlu;  colonial  Act  of  Sequestration,  in  fact 
disavowed,  and  done  over  a  second  time?     Well — he 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  263 

clung  to  his  own  act  as  one  of  '  full  force  and  virtue' 
still — as  advantageous,  as  justified,  and  as  final — and 
on  the  fifteenth  of  May,  1655,  about  two  years  after 
its  occurrence,  earnestly,  bewailingly  even,  petitioned 
the  General  Court  for  permission  to  sell  the  property 
he  had  seized — setting  forth  in  his  petition  the  author- 
ity under  which  he  had  acted,  the  law  or  custom  un- 
der which  he  claimed  the  right  to  sell  the  premises, 
his  own  good  services  to  the  country,  for  a  long  time 
continued,  and  his  present  distress  for  want  of  means. 
What  said  the  General  Court  ?  Let  the  following 
extract  from  its  Records  answer  I 

May  17,  1655.  "This  Courte,  considering  the  petition  of  Capt. 
John  Underhill,  in  reSerence  to  his  seizure  of  the  Dutch  House 
Hope,  and  lands ;  they  doe,  in  way  of  answer,  returne  as  followeth : 
First,  that  notwithstanding  all  that  hath  yet  appeared  to  them,  they 
may  and  doe  declare  that  till  more  appeares,  they  shall  maintaine 
theire  owne  seizure  of  the  premises,  according  to  the  end  and  extent 
thereof.  2ndly,  that  they  see  not  cause  to  warrant  his  seizure, 
neither  shall  they  allowe  or  approve  of  his  sale  thereof,  to  any  person 
whatsoever,  from  this  jurisdiction." 

Still,  notwithstanding  this  express  installation,  by 
the  sovereignty  of  Connecticut,  of  its  own  sole  agen- 
cy and  responsibility  in  the  appropriation  of  the 
Dutch  house  and  lands,  and  notwithstanding  its  ex- 
press repudiation  of  the  intervention  of  Underhill,  the 
latter,  July  18th,  1655,  two  months  only  after  the 
above  decree,  proceeded  to  make  a  sale  of  the  prem- 
ises in  question  to  William  Gibbons  and  Richard 
Lord.  The  grantees  were  both  Hartford  citizens. 
They  had  each  held  responsible  offices.     They  were 


264  HARTFORD. 

both  distinguished  for  their  probity,  their  enterprise, 
and  their  good  services  to  the  public.  Underhill  too 
deserved  well  of  his  country.  He  had  defended  the 
Fort  at  Saybrook.  He  had  fought  bravely  in  the  Pe- 
quot  War.  The  General  Court  therefore  did  not  dis- 
turb the  sale,  but  contenting  itself  with  a  vindication 
on  the  record  of  its  own  rights  in  the  case,  left 
the  premises — after  a  single  fruitless  effort  on  the 
part  of  one  Ralph  Earle  of  Rhode  Island  to  obtain 
them,  on  the  ground  of  alleged  prior  purchase  from 
Underhill — left  them  to  pass  down  undisturbed  into 
the  hands  of  their  present  owners. 

Undisturbed,  we  say!  By  aught,  we  mean,  save 
by  the  elements ! 

"  Earthquakes  have  raised  to  heaven  the  humble  vale, 

And  gulfs  the  mountain's  mighty  mass  entombed, 

And  where  the  Atlantic  rolls  wide  continents  have  bloomed." 

And  the  mighty  Connecticut,  Reader — anticlimax 
or  not — has  swept  away  every  vestige  of  the  island  on 
its  east  side  which  belonged  to  the  Dutch,  and  every 
spoonful  of  the  elevated  solid  ground  on  which — out 
in  the  present  stream — just  at  the  mouth  of  Little 
River — the  House  of  Hope  was  erected.  But  of  this 
House  itself  one  memorial  does  remain — a  single 
hard,  brittle  Holland  brick,  of  a  yellowish  hue,  which 
the  late  Sheldon  Woodbridge,  Esq.,  of  this  city, 
some  forty  years  ago,  picked  up,  on  the  river  bank, 
close  by  the  site  of  the  old  Fort.  Here  it  is  now,  on 
our  own  mantelpiece,  side  by  side — fit  company — 
with  a  large  oyster  shell  which  Noah's  deluge   left, 


DUTCH  POINT.   ITS  HISTORY.        265 

one    thousand    feet   above    the    level  of  the    sea,    on 
the  coast  of  Patagonia. 

The  main  part  of  the  Dutch'  Land  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Connecticut,  also  remains — dwindled  it  is  true, 
on  its  eastern  bound,  by  the  invading  river,  but  the 
bulk  of  it  remains.  Would  you  trace  it.  Reader  ? 
Then  walk  down  to  a  point  on  the  south  bank  of  Lit- 
tle River  opposite  the  southwest  corner  of  the  Steam 
Saw  Mill.  You  stand  now  upon  the  northwest  angle 
of  the  Dutch  property.  Now  move  on,  in  a  straight 
line,  to  a  mere-stone  which  you  will  find  sunk  on  the 
north  side  of  the  road  leading  through  the  South 
Meadow.  Thence  follow  the  line  of  the  Meadow 
road  south-eastwardly,  to  a  point  which  is  about 
fovir  feet  east  of  Michael  Chauncey's  Tobacco  Shed. 
Thence  proceed  north-eastwardly,  in  a  line  at  right 
angles  with  the  road  over  which  you  have  just  passed, 
to  the  bank  of  the  Connecticut.  Thence  wind  along 
this  bank  up  to  the  point  from  which  you  started. 
You  have  now  perambulated  the  Dutch  Meadoiv  I 
It's  something  of  a  walk — but  don't  mind  that  I 
Take  breath,  and  then  pass  up,  a  short  distance,  to 
the  present  Town  Landing  on  Little  River.  Stop 
there,  and  look  up  stream.  You  will  then  see  a  small 
strip  of  land,  of  about  one  acre,  which  hugs  the  water 
on  the  north — is  bounded  by  a  fence  on  the  south — 
by  a  row  of  sycamore  trees  on  the  west — and  by 
yourself  on  the  east.  This  also  was  a  part  of  the  old 
Dutch  property — and  as  you  look  south,  you  will  see 
the  old  road — it  is  still  maintained — over  which  the 
Dutch  used  to  come  from  their  Fort  to  the  Landing 
34 


236  HARTFORD. 

Place  \vhere  you  now  stand,  and  which  they  claimed 
as  their  own.  Pass  across  the  river  now  and  over  to 
the  Steam  Planing  Mills  of  Taylor  &  Company.  Go 
about  fourteen  rods  below  these  Mills  and  stop.  Di- 
rectly across  your  path  now,  from  river  to  river,  ran 
once  a  fence,  well  remembered  by  many  of  our  pres- 
ent citizens.  It  was  the  identical  fence  which  in  old 
times  separated  the  Settlers  of  Hartford  from  the 
Dutch — and  all  the  land  you  see  before  you,  environed 
by  the  two  rivers,  belonged  to  the  Dutch,  as  its 
name — Dutch  Point — to  this  day  commemorates. 

Take  some  pleasant  time,  Reader  that  art  curious, 
that  art  investigating,  that  lovest  the  olden  time, 
and  perambulate  the  spot  we  have  now  described. 
It  is  instinct  with  memories,  replete  with  instruc- 
tion! It  talks  to  us  of  our  fathers,  and  of  our  fath- 
ers' scattered  foes.* 

And  when  you  go  to  the  spot,  visit  also  another 
closely  connected  with  it — ah  but  too  closely — of 
which  we  are  now  going  to  speak — the  old  Burial 
Yard  of  the  Dutchmen  of  the  Fort.  Yes,  their  Bui'i- 
al  Yard — but  with  no  memorial,  save  bones,  to  mark 
the  spot.  It  was  accidentally  discovered.  In  exca- 
vating ground  on  the  south  side  of  Little  River,  near- 


*  In  company  with  our  fellow-townsman,  N.  Goodwin  Esq.,  we  walked 
over  the  whole  Dutch  locality — passing  an  entire  afternoon  in  its  ex- 
amination, and  most  pleasantly  indeed!  Our  companion  was  as  familiar 
with  every  mete  and  bound  of  the  spot,  as  he  is  with  the  limits  of  his 
own  door-yard,  and  with  a  politeness  and  kind  sympathy  in  our  purpose — 
for  which  we  here  do  most  cordially  thank  him — pointed  them  all  out  to  us, 
and  at  the  same  time  enriched  our  memory  with  many  interesting  facts,  in 
relation  to  the  Point,  from  his  own  abundant  stores. 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITSHISTORY.  267 

ly  opposite  the  Steam  Saw  Mill,  a  few  years  since,  to 
supply  earth  for  the  establishment  of  Messrs.  Tracy 
&  Fales,  many  human  bones,  and  several  skeletons, 
almost  entire,  were  disinterred — most  of  which  crum- 
bled easily,  and  wasted  away  on  exposure  to  the  air. 
They  had  been  obviously  deposited  with  care,  and  in 
the  manner  of  the  whites.  The  place  where  they 
were  buried  is  at  just  a  suitable  and  convenient  dis- 
tance from  the  old  House  of  Hope,  and  is  near  the 
banks  of  Little  River.  It  was  never  in  the  early 
period  of  our  Town  used  as  a  place  of  sepulture  by 
the  English  inhabitants.  It  has  never,  we  are  confi- 
dent, been  so  used  by  them  since.  The  bones  were 
not  the  bones  of  Indians.  The  Dutch  would  natural- 
ly, nay  almost  of  course,  considering  the  hostilities 
between  themselves  and  the  English,  have  a  burial 
place  of  their  own.  These  circumstances  satisfy  us 
abundantly  that  they  did  have  one,  and  that  it  was 
there  where  we  have  now  located  it.  Memorable 
spot  then  it  is  indeed !  But  it  had  no  '  ponderous 
and  marble  jaws'  to  defy  the  spade,  pick-axe,  and 
shovel,  and  so  the  bones  which  for  two  centuries  had 
lain  there  '  quietly  inurned,'  were  tossed,  many  of 
them,  with  the  cheap  earth  about  them,  into  carts, 
and  'canonized'  or  not,  were  hurried  away  to  mingle 
with  the  ignoble  dust  of  a  car-yard.  Ah,  Messrs 
Tracy  &  Fales,  were  those  dead  corses  ever  to  '  re- 
visit the  glimpses  of  the  moon'  what  an  account 
2/ou  would  have  to  render !  The  ghost  of  the  royal 
Dane,  shaking  the  disposition 

"  With  thoughts  beyond  the  reaches  of  our  souls," 


268  HARTFORD. 

would  be  no  bugbear  in  comparison.  A  few  of  the 
osseous  relics  we  saved — and  bore  them  off — one  skull 
with  its  occipital  wall  still  standing,  a  thigh  bone,  a 
calcis  or  heel  bone,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  and  several 
teeth.  Trophies  indeed !  But  "  earth  to  earth,  ashes 
to  ashes !"  They  crumbled  soon — all  save  the  teeth, 
one  of  which,  without  a  fracture,  solid,  polished  now 
somewhat  from  exposure,  and  looking,  stony  mat- 
ter that  it  is,  as  if  it  would  last  forever,  is  now 
before  us.  It  is  none  of  your  long,  lank,  ill-favored 
incisor  teeth — nor  the  sharp,  biting  cuspid,  or  bi- 
cuspid— ^but  a  genuine,  broad,  handsome,  amiable 
molar — and  molar  the  third,  we  think,  the  dens  sapi- 
entice,  the  wisdom  tooth,  such  as  belongs  only  to 
mature  age.  Associations  crowd  upon  us!  Dark,  yet 
white  memorializer — gone  thy  power  to  triturate,  but 
would  that  thou  hadst  now  a  voice  !  Fain  would  we 
apostrophize  thee,  could  we  make  thee  talk !  Steady, 
Pegasus  !     We'll  try !     Listen  then,  old  Tooth ! 

Two  centuries  and  more  ago, 
Thou  in  a  Dutchman's  head  wast  set, 
With  others  of  thy  make  and  show, 
Batavian  pet ! 

Now  thou  art  hard,  and  free  from  rust, 
Looking  as  if  thou  ne'er  would'st  die — 
While  he,  thine  owner,  is  but  dust — 
Lone  ivory ! 

Wlien  bedded  in  his  living  gum, 
Had'st  thou  no  pang  to  teach  thee  woe. 
That  tliou  should'st  thus  decay  o'crcome, 
To  mock  him  so? 


DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  269 

Tell  us  of  aught  that  he  has  done — 
Tell  us  of  those  to  whom  allied — 
Tell  us  if  he  was  quan-elsome 
Before  he  died. 

Tell  us  of  all  that  kindred  band, 
Which,  gathered  at  its  '  House  of  Hope,' 
In  Hartford  strove  to  seize  the  land, 
And  interlope. 

Say  if  in  all  around  thee  now, 
Thou  canst  one  Belgic  lineament  trace — 
One  token  that  doth  not  avow 
The  Saxon  race? 

Thou'rt  silent,  molar  monitor — 
And  useful  only  to  remind, 
That,  once,  a  mouth's  mere  janitor, 
You  served  to  grind! 

There,  Reader!  Scseva,  like  Bellerophon,  on  Me- 
dusa's winged  horse!  Has  he  thrown  his  rider?  Judge 
you!  So  much  for  the  inspiration  of  deep  night,  dark 
death,  and  the  dental  relic  of  a  decomposed  and 
desiccated  Dutchman!  Sure  Pindus  and  Helicon  had 
graveyards  near  their  fountains,  or  the  Muses  would 
never  entertain,  as  they  now  have  for  us, 

"  The  melancholy  ghosts  of  dead  renown!" 

We  have  now,  Reader,  completed  our  history  of 
Dutch  Point — in  an  article  of  greater  length  than 
usual  —  but  which,  we  trust,  you  will  have  found 
worthy  of  perusal.  It  is  certainly  a  deeply  interesting 
Point  to  Hartford  citizens,  and  should  be  to  the  State 
at  large — for  it  involves,  in  the  early  struggles  of  Con- 
necticut with  the  Dutch,   the   fundamental   questions 


270 


HARTFORD, 


of  original  title  to  our  whole  domain,  and  of  national 
sovereignty.  Did  our  soil  belong  to  England  or  to 
Holland?  Which  had  the  right  to  make  settlements 
here?  These  gi-eat  questions  were  tested,  among 
other  places,  at  Hartford^  and  through  the  House  of 
Hope !  The  power  of  two  formidable  nations  was 
here  literally  concentrated  to  a  7?om^ — and  the  contest 
resulted,  as  we  have  described  it,  in  the  triumph  of  oar 
own  Father-land.  This  result  was,  in  our  own  judg- 
ment, just.  It  was  fully  warranted  by  all  the  facts 
and  circumstances  of  the  case — by  the  claims  of  nau- 
tical enterprise — by  principles  of  national  law — by  the 
high  purposes  Avhich  English  settlers  upon  this  conti- 
nent had  in  view — by  their  wants,  their  wishes,  and 
by  the  priceless  benefits  which  their  colonization  here 
has  conferred  upon  mankind.  But  for  their  triumph 
the  genius  of  Europe  would  never  have  overspread 
this  western  empire  so  magnificently  as  it  has — the 
spirit  of  the  New  World  never  found  so  lofty  and  so 
stirring  a  sphere — the  eagle  of  our  own  land  never 
soared  so  high  to  heaven. 

But  while  we  thus  unhesitatingly  decide  in  favor  of 
the  rights  of  England  in  the  olden  time,  and  exult  in 
their  supremacy,  and  in  their  power,  we  would  not  fail 
to  award  to  her  great  rival  the  credit  which  is  her  due. 
We  do  not  forget  that  spirit  of  liberty  which  from 
time  immemorial  has  animated  the  sons  of  Holland, 
and  heaped  up  trophies  that  vie  immortally  with  those 
of  almost  every  clime.  We  do  not  forget  her  com- 
mercial enterprise,  that  has  vexed  every  sea,  pushed 
discovery  to  its  utmost  verge,  and  been  felt  on  almost 
every  shore.     We  remember,  without  jealousy,  her  old 


■DUTCH    POINT.       ITS    HISTORY.  271 

maritime  supremacy  and  giant  naval  strength.  We 
recall  with  pride  that  industry  which  walled  in  her 
millions  of  people  from  the  terrible  power  of  the 
ocean, 

"  And  to  the  stake  a  struggling  country  bound" — 

and  which  made  the  wind  her  slave,  and  transformed 
great  lakes  to  verdant  fields,  and  pervaded  almost 
every  mechanical  sphere,  and  strewed  almost  every 
pathway  of  her  social  life  with  the  flowers  and  fruits  of 
happiness  and  of  wealth.  Sincere  she  doubtless  was 
in  her  struggle  for  superiority  in  the  New  World — 
sincere  in  her  claim  to  Connecticut — sincere  in  her 
efforts  to  possess  and  enjoy  the  lands  of  Hartford — 
and  meritoriously  ambitious,  we  doubt  not,  of  extend- 
ing the  domain  of  commerce,  and  the  might  of  civili- 
zation— and  persevering  too.  But  in  this  matter  jus- 
tice was  not  at  her  side — power  did  not  prop  her  up — 
and  her  Van  Tromp  yielded  to  our  Blake.  She  fell — 
not  ignominiously — but  fell — and  Dutch  Point,  whose 
history  we  have  recounted  to-day,  here  in  our  own 
Hartford,  will  long  perpetuate  the  memory  of  her  past 
greatness,  of  its  decline,  and  of  Anglo-Saxon  preem- 
inence. 

Sc^VA. 


iartfarlr. 


THE  MUSE  AGAIN  AT  DUTCH  POINT. 

No.  25. 

"  Taking  notes.'' 


Burns. 


Not  ScsBva's  Muse  again,  Reader — no — but  one 
far  more  attractive,  that  of  Mrs.  Sigourney.  Our 
History  of  Dutch  Point  has,  it  seems,  tuned  anew  the 
chords  of  this  lady's  many-stringed  lyre — and  she 
dedicates  to  us  the  strains !  Well — there's  no  deny- 
ing the  fact — it  is  pleasant  to  an  author  to  find  his  lu- 
cubrations thus  commemorated — to  know  that,  even 
if  not  thoughtful  himself,  he  becomes  the  hint,  the 
monitor  of  thought  to  others — to  feel  that  though 
dealing,  as  has  been  our  task,  with  the  faded  Past — 
though  groping  in  a  crypt  which  to  the  common  vis- 
ian  is  darkness  and  uninviting  dust — still  there  are 
some  eyes  which  have  that  "  precious  seeing"  before 
which  mists  roll  off  from  antiquity  as  from  the  valley 
around  us  they  roll  before  the  rising  sun,  and  objects 
and  events  disclose  themselves  garish  in  the  light  of 
day,  and  rouse  to  reflection,  to  emotion,  and  to  the 
joy  of  poetry.  So  sees  that  lady  whose  Muse  has  led 
35 


274  HARTFORD. 

her  playfully  through  the  scenes  described  in  our  last 
Paper.  How  in  harmony  with  her  theme  she  sings! 
"We  must  enshrine  her  notes — in  a  chapter  by  them- 
selves !     This  the  one — and  here  they  are ! 

Sc^VA. 


gi;f)i  aniinxt  33ut:Ij  Burial  (Ccrounb,  formtrls  at  ^uttl  point, 
^tlartforiJ. 

DEDICATED   TO    "  SC^VA." 

Who  would  have  thought,  in  this  unresting  place, 

Where  Toil  to  Wealth  a  clamorous  tribute  yields, 
Such  relics  of  the  olden  time  to  trace, 
As  digs  the  sexton,  'mid  sepulchral  fields! — 
Yet  so  it  is,  for  antiquarian  lore 
Hath  won  this  hidden  fact,  from  History's  hoarded  store. 

When  hither,  to  yon  all-uncultur'd  vales, 

Where  roam'd  the  Indian  tribes  in  lordly  state, — 
The  patient  Hollander's  exploring  sails 

Furl'd  the  worn  wing  and  pour'd  the  living  freight, — 
Connecticut  seem'd  churlish  at  their  staj'. 
And  her  strong  river  rose,  to  sweep  their  pride  away. 

Their  "  House  of  Hope,"— a  hopeless  fortress  prov'd, — 

And  English  eyes  with  scorn  its  ramparts  view'd ; 
Close  round  its  base  their  grudging  ploughshare  groov'd. 
While  brawl  and  missile  mark'd  the  border  feud ; — 
Van  Tassel  and  Von  Twisel  storm'd  in  vain — 
And  snatching  pipe  from  mouth,  rebuk'd  the  encroaching  train. 

Methinks  I  see  those  honest  Dutch  Mynheers 

'Twcen  the  brown  logs,  with  troubled  visage  gazing, 
Where  their  impounded  cattle,  wild  with  fears, 
Paid  doleful  tax  for  too  excursive  grazing — 
Meek  sheep,  or  horse,  or  she  with  horned  head, 
Who  fiU'd  the  creamy  bowl,  that  then-  young  children  fed. 


THE    MUSE    AGAIN    AT    DUTCH    POINT.         275 

Few  courtesies  of  neighborhood  might  grace 

Their  Hartford  home,  or  make  its  amial  fair — 
Our  pilgi-im-fathers  had  decided  ways 
Of  signif\-ing  what  their  wishes  were; — 
This  was  a  trait,  by  Roger  Williams  learn'd, 
When  from  the  Old  Bay  State,  to  Providence  he  turn'd. 

Xot  many  lustrums  these  Batavians  bore, 
Colonial  hardships  in  this  clime  remote; 
And  when  their  parting  pinnace  left  the  shore, 
Loud  peals  of  laughter  sweU'd  the  Saxon  throat, — 
So  toward  far  Hudson's  favoring  tide  they  steer'd, 
Or  where  New  Amsterdam  its  infant  spires  uprear'd. 

Yet  some  remained  behind,  on  pillow  cold. 

To  sleep  the  sleep  that  hath  no  wakening  here ; 
Their  Belgic  dust  hath  mingled  with  this  mould, 
And  its  green  herbage  drank  the  mourner's  tear: — 
Death  to  his  silent  halls  a  welcome  gave, 
And  lull'd  contending  claims  in  the  oblivious  grave. 

L.  H.  S. 


fartforL 


ITS  MILITARY  HISTORY.     THE  INDIANS.    PERIOD 

SECOND. 

No.  26. 

" It  is  most  meet  we  arm  us  'gainst  the  foe: 
For  peace  itself  should  not  so  dull  a  kingdom, 
Though  war,  nor  no  known  quarrel  were  in  question, 
But  that  defences,  musters,  preparations, 
Should  be  mamtained,  assembled,  and  collected, 
As  wei'e  a  war  in  preparation." 

King  Henry  V. 

"  But  still  the  cloud  of  paganism  did  blight 
The  blossom  of  their  virtues,  brooding  dark 
With  raven  pinion  o'er  the  gloomy  soul. 

*  *  *  * 

And  with  the  sceptic  doubt  of  modem  times, 
The  Missionary  scanned." 

Mrs.  Sigovrney. 

Reader.  We  paraded  the  old  Train-Band  of  Hart- 
ford before  you  once,  in  front  of  the  State  House,  and 
up  and  down  Main  Street — musketeers  and  pike- 
men — and  described  their  appointments  and  their  dis- 
cipline— and  told  you  that  their's  was 

"  the  bold  port,  and  their's  the  martial  frown, 
And  theh-'s  the  scorn  of  death  in  freedom's  cause." 


278 


HARTFORD. 


We  have  no  occasion,  therefore,  to  deploy  them  again, 
or  to  dwell  on  the  vigor  of  their  arms.  The  Band 
continued,  during  the  whole  of  the  Second  Period, 
organized  as  during  the  First,  but  by  a  new  act  of  leg- 
islation, all  who  were  unable  to  provide  themselves 
with  arms  and  ammunition  were  compelled  to  deposit 
"  corn  or  other  merchantable  goods"  with  the  Clerk  of 
the  Band  for  their  purchase,  and,  alas  again  for  the 
poor  bachelors,  such  of  these  as  had  no  corn,  and  no 
goods  fit  for  market,  were  put  out  to  service,  under  the 
auspices  of  a  constable,  to  earn  their  equipments  by 
daily  labor.  Six  times  a  year,  the  soldiers  were  com- 
pelled to  train,  on  penalty  of  two  shillings  and  six- 
pence for  every  default  to  appear,  and  of  two  shillings 
for  every  neglect  to  attend  the  commands  of  officers. 
Twice  every  year  their  arras  and  ammunition  were  to 
be  inspected,  and  all  defects,  duly  presented  to  the 
Governor  or  some  of  the  Magistrates,  were  to  be  pun- 
ished, with  severity  more  or  less,  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  offence.  Legislation  at  this  time  aimed  to 
build  up  a  stalwart  militia,  and  by  way  of  securing 
its  efficiency,  all  chief  officers,  though  chosen  by  the 
soldiers,  were  subjected  to  confirmation  by  the  Partic- 
ular Court,  ere  they  could  receive,  at  the  hands  of  the 
General  Court,  their  martial  commissions. 

Two  new  provisions,  at  this  period,  added  particu- 
larly to  the  force  of  the  system  in  operation  —  and 
these  applied  not  only  to  Hartford,  but  also  to  Wind- 
sor and  to  Wethersfield.  We  refer  to  the  General 
Revieic,  and  to  the  organization  of  a  Troop  of  Horse. 

The  General  Review!  With  what  spectacle  is 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  Connecticut  more  familiar 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.       THE    INDIANS.      279 

than  with  this  gaudy',  dashing,  attractive,  annual 
'spread'  of  the  soldiery!  On  what  occasion  do  pies 
and  cakes,  gingerbread  and  crullers,  crackers  and 
cheese,  bread  and  butter,  codfish  and  herring,  cold 
eggs  and  ham,  nuts  and  apples,  hot  oysters  and  coffee, 
pop-beer  and  lemonade,  mead  and  cider,  'smashers' 
and  egg-nog,  find  such  overpowering  consumption  as 
on  the  days  of  General  Muster!  One  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  years  have  rolled  over  the  custom,  and 
still  it  remains,  alluring,  peculiar,  fixed  as  ever — more 
ostentatious  in  its  parade,  more  motley  in  its  accom- 
paniments, and  wilder  in  its  frolic  than  ever  before — 
yet  relished  by  the  soldiery,  more  even  than  if  they 
played  a  part  at  Marengo  or  Austerlitz — prized  by  the 
officers  as  if  each  of  its  lines  of  march  were  an  Areola 
Bridge,  over  which,  amid  the  flouting  of  standards, 
and  rattling  of  drums,  and  peal  of  musketry,  and  roar 
of  cannon,  they  were  advancing  to  victory  and  to 
fame — and  thronged  with  people,  who,  feeding  their 
morbid  fancy  for  'battle's  magnificently  stern  array,' 
exhilarate  the  while  in  spasms  of  gayety,  or  become  in 
imagination 

"  with  terror  dumb, 
And  whisper  with  white  lips — The  foe !     They  come !     They  come !" 

It  was  first  established  by  the  General  Court  in 
1654 — was  to  take  place,  at  this  period,  once  in  two 
years — and  was  put  under  the  special  superintendence 
of  that  accomplished  soldier  and  noble  patriot,  John 
Mason,  the  chief  military  officer  of  Connecticut — and, 
what  is  worthy  of  special  note  by  you,  citizens  of 
Hartford,  in  its  array  of   military  forces,  the  Train- 


280  HARTFORD. 

Band  of  Hartford,  by  deliberate  act  of  the  General 
Court,  was  declared  "  to  have  the  preeminence  of  all 
the  Companies  in  the  Colony!" 

Three  years  later,  in  1657,  and  the  Troop  of  Horse 
to  which  we  have  alluded,  was  organized.  It  was 
made  up,  not  from  Hartford  alone,  but  from  all  three 
towns  on  the  River,  Hartford  furnishing  fourteen  men, 
Windsor  seventeen,  and  Wethersfield  six  —  in  all 
thirty-seven.  Of  its  seven  officers,  Hartford  supplied 
four,  to  wit — its  Captain,  Richard  Lord — its  Cornet, 
John  Allen  —  its  Quarter  Master  General,  Thomas 
Wells,  Jr.  —  and  one  Corporal,  Nicholas  Olmstead. 
With  these  were  joined,  from  Hartford,  as  Troopers, 
Mr.  Wyllys,  Jacob  Mygatt,  Jonathan  Gilbert,  John 
Stedman,  .James  Steele,  Daniel  Pratt,  Andrew  War- 
ner, William  Edwards,  Richard  Fellows,  and  Robert 
Reive.  This  squad,  as  well  as  the  squads  in  Windsor 
and  Wethersfield,  were  permitted  to  'attend'  their  or- 
dinary exercise  within  the  plantations  where  the  mem- 
bers resided,  under  command  of  any  cavalry  officer  in 
the  Town,  and  in  union  with  the  Train-Band — ^but  on 
occasion  of  General  Review,  they  were  to  appear  as 
'  one  intire  Body  of  Horse.'  Fortified  with  the  pow- 
er of  filling  vacancies  in  their  ranks  at  the  discretion 
of  their  commissioned  officers,  and  privileged  by  being 
allowed  to  draw  from  the  public  treasury  full  remu- 
neration for  their  horses,  if  any  were  killed  in  battle, 
and  by  free  ferriage  across  the  River  at  Bissell's  ferry, 
in  case  they  went  to  Springfield,  or  beyond,  these  the 
first  Troopers  of  Connecticut  held  themselves  always 
prepared  for  the  exigencies  of  the  country — ready,  as 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.       THE    INDIANS.      281 

occasion  should  require,  and  in  time  it  did,  to  mount 
in  '  hot  haste,'  and  form  in  the  ranks  of  war. 

The  period  was  one  which  required,  as  has  been 
suggested  in  a  former  Paper,  perpetual  military  watch- 
fulness. Town  magazines  of  powder  and  shot  were 
therefore  maintained  with  great  care.  Hartford,  as 
its  own  duty,  was  bound  by  law  to  provide,  and  keep 
constantly  on  hand,  under  a  penalty  of  ten  shillings  a 
month  for  each  defect,  two  barrels  of  powder,  six 
hundred  weight  of  lead,  six  score  fathoms  of  match, 
twelve  corslets  with  serviceable  pikes  to  each,  twelve 
good  firelock  muskets,  and  twelve  good  backswords 
or  cutlasses — and  every  male  person  above  the  age  of 
sixteen,  magistrate,  minister  or  what  not,  though  ex- 
empt by  law  from  the  ordinary  duties  of  training, 
watching  and  warding,  was  yet  to  keep  by  him, 
always  in  readiness,  under  the  penalty  of  five  shillings 
a  month  for  each  default,  half  a  pound  of  powder, 
two  pounds  of  serviceable  bullets  or  shot,  and  two 
fathoms  of  match  to  every  matchlock.  Such  were 
the  precautions,  in  the  period  under  consideration, 
imposed  by  circumstances  on  Hartford.  Such  the 
means  requisite  to  preserve  its  safety  and  its  peace. 
And  all  this  by  reason  of  the  Dutch — they  were  men- 
acing! "By  reason"  too,  says  the  I^aw  which  re- 
quired the  preparations,  "of  the  Indians!" 

These  Indians — they  continued  a  source  of  appre- 
hension— at  times  of  vivid  alarm.  Those  at  a  dis- 
tance from  Hartford,  the  Narragansetts  particularly, 
were  believed  to  be  ever  plotting  with  the  Dutch  for 
the  extirpation  of  the  English  settlements  in  Con- 
36 


282 


HARTFORD, 


necticut — nay  there  is  but  little  doubt  that  the  two 
parties  did  combine  for  this  bloody  purpose.  Those 
near  and  around  Hartford,  though  ostensibly  friendly, 
were  yet  not  to  be  trusted.  Still  they  pilfered — in 
dwellings,  in  the  fields — everywhere.  They  still  de- 
stroyed swine,  seized  cattle,  and  drove  off  horses. 
They  fired  buildings.  They  might  murder.  They 
did  at  Farmington.  Jealous  still  of  the  whites,  they 
would  readily  join,  it  was  supposed,  any  general  com- 
bination against  them.  They  never  really  liked  the 
'pale  faces,'  nor  professed  attachment  but  from  dread 
of  the  Pequot  and  the  Mohawk.  The  old  policy  of 
Hartford,  therefore,  in  regard  to  them,  was  steadfastly 
maintained.  Still  they  were  denied  possession  of  the 
white  man's  arms.  Still  they  were  forbidden,  in 
squads,  to  enter  the  Town,  or  singly  to  be  entertained 
or  harbored  within  its  limits,  and  were  never  to  march 
through  it  in  hostile  array,  nor  visit  it  in  the  night 
season  save  on  messages  of  pressing  importance  to 
the  Settlers.  Penalties  for  violating  these  commands 
were  studiously  increased  during  the  Second  Period, 
and  in  addition  to  former  precautions  it  was  ordered, 
that  no  persons  should  trade  with  the  Indians  at  or 
about  their  wigwams,  but  only  at  the  dwellings  of  the 
whites,  or  on  board  their  vessels — that  no  foreigners 
should  trade  with  them  at  all — that  no  one  should 
sell,  or  barter,  or  give  them  any  dog,  small  or  great — 
that  no  one  should  buy  of  them  any  timber,  candle- 
wood,  or  trees  of  any  sort — and  particularly  that  no 
persons,  under  penalty  of  three  years'  imprisoimient  in 
the  House  of  Correction,  or  of  censure  from  the 
Court,  or  of  fine,  or  of  corporal  punishment,  should 


ITS    MILITARY    HISTORY.       THE    INDIANS.     283 

settle  among  them,  to  affiliate  ^vith  their  customs,  and 
become  dissipated  by  their  vices. 

But  while  thus  careful  in  protecting  their  own  in- 
terests from  savage  invasion,  the  Settlers  made  every 
attempt  in  their  power  to  humanize  and  Christianize 
these  sons  of  the  forest.  Hartford  especially  was  the 
centre  of  such  efforts.  Time  and  again  they  appoint- 
ed committees  to  confer  with  them,  and  give  them 
good  advice — time  and  again  prohibited  indiscrimin- 
ate purchases  from  them,  especially  of  lands,  lest 
some  unworthy  advantage  should  be  taken — and 
strove  to  soften  the  wildness  of  their  natures,  and 
restrain  and  repress  their  vicious  usages.  And  the 
General  Court  provided  fundamentally,  1650,  in  its 
Code  of  Laws,  that  one  of  the  teaching  Elders  in  the 
Churches,  with  the  help  of  Thomas  Stanton  of  Hart- 
ford, the  Interpreter,  should  be  desii-ed,  twice  at  least 
in  every  year,  to  go  among  them,  and  "  endeavor  to 
make  known  to  them  the  Councells  of  the  Lord,"  that 
thereby  they  might  be  drawn  "  to  direct  and  order  all 
their  wayes  and  conversation  according  to  the  rule  of 
his  Worde."  And  again  in  1654,  the  Court  urged 
John  Mijnor  of  Pequot,  to  come  to  Hartford,  that  here 
he  might  be  fitted  by  Mr.  Stone  to  instruct  the  Indians. 
It  promised  to  pay  for  Mynor's  education,  and  for  his 
maintenance ;  that  as  interpreter,  he  might  afterwards 
assist  the  elders,  or  any  other  persons,  in  explaining 
'the  things  of  God'  to  those  '  poore,  lost,  naked  sons 
of  Adam,'  as  it  styles  the  aborigines  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. What  success  attended  these  efforts  does  not 
appear.     That  they  failed,  however,  in  one  remarkable 


284 


HART  FORD, 


instance,  is  certain.  It  was  in  1657,  and  at  Hartford, 
that  instigated  by  John  Elliot,  the  Podunk  Indians  as- 
sembled to  listen  to  the  preaching  of  this  famous 
apostle.  He  addressed  them  in  their  own  language — 
simply  and  fervently.  He  presented  them  with  Christ 
for  their  Redeemer,  and  on  closing  his  discourse  in- 
quired whether  they  would  accept  the  proffered  boon. 
"  No,"  their  chiefs  replied,  with  great  scorn  and  resent- 
ment— "  you  English  have  taken  away  our  lands,  and 
now  you  want  to  make  us  a  race  of  servants .'" 

Little  did  these  natives  appreciate  the  pure  motives 
of  Elliot,  and  of  those  in  our  own  Town  who  thus 
labored  to  wash  their  tawny  skins  in  the  water  of 
life.  Kichtan  the  Good,  far  down  in  the  golden 
South  West,  lured,  beyond  the  white  man's  God, 
their  love — and  Hobammocko,  Sprite  of  111,  beyond 
all  other  dread  attraction,  commanded  the  fear  of 
their  worship.  What  has  become  of  them — in  that 
other  world — ^we  cannot  but  ask  ourselves.  Ai*e  they 
within  the  wrench,  the  garrotte  of  torment — as  mod- 
ern religious  eclecticism  much  teaches — with  myri- 
ads of  others  whose  ignorance  of  the  Christian's 
God  was  not  their  fault,  but  was  their  irremediable 
fate  ?     Or  have  they  found 

"  Behind  the  cloud-topt  hill  an  humbler  heaven, 
Some  safer  world  in  depth  of  woods  embraced, 
Some  happier  island  in  the  watery  waste?" 

Answer,  Theologian?     Answer,  Humanity! 

SciEVA. 


faiiforlr. 


MARRIAGES  AND  BIRTHS— PERIOD  SECOND. 

No.  27. 

"  Take  not  an  husband  by  report ; 

Examine  first  his  head — his  heart — 

His  conscience — pierce  him  to  the  lees; 

Mark  how  each  joint  of  his  agrees 

And  jumps  with  thine;  for,  if  they  vary, 

The  priest,  that  does  your  bodies  marry, 

But  gives  a  potsherd.     In  a  word, 

If  thou  canst  marry  with  a  bird 

Of  thine  own  feather,  haste  thee,  Jane, 

To  render  him  his  rib  again." 


"  Types,  sweet  maid,  of  thee !" 


George  Tooke. 


Moore. 


They  married — they  reproduced — they  died!  Such 
is  the  inscription  which,  so  far  as  the  residents  of 
Hartford,  during  its  Second  Period,  are  concerned,  we 
might  write — save  for  a  few  chinks  through  which  the 
struggling  gaze  may  enter — on  the  doors  of  their  hoar 
nuptial  chambers,  and  on  the  dusky  portals  of  their 
tombs.  Jealous,  insatiate,  hard-hearted  Time,  that 
thus  devours  almost  all  the  Past  of  our  Town's  affec- 
tions !  On  thou  movest,  as  if  thou  hadst  a  giant's 
stride,  notching  thy  centuries  in  the  eternal  rocks,  but 


286  HARTFORD. 

forgetting  the  years,  the  months,  the  days,  which  com- 
plete the  circuit  of  a  single  generation !  We  would 
have  had  thee  mark  the  smaller  increments  of  thy  prog- 
ress through  the  space  in  which  we  fain  would  trace 
thy  flight !  "Where,  pray,  is  thy  dial  of  home  events, 
oblivious  Monarch  ?  Where  the  loves  thou  should'st 
have  chronicled — the  children  o'er  whose  birth  thou 
should'st,  for  love's  sake,  have  dropt  a  sunbeam — the 
graves  which  thou  should'st,  for  sweet  memory's  ends, 
have  consecrated  to  thy  future  ?  These  are  all  links 
of  holy  parentage  which  chain  us  to  the  past  I  Thou 
breakest  them,  and  then  callest  us  unfilial !  Think'st 
thou  we  take  no  'note'  of  thee  but  by  thy  'loss?' 
Avenge  we  then  by  noting  but  to  blame  thee ! 

Reflections  these.  Reader,  too  sorely  pressed  on  us 
by  the  waste  which  Time  has  made  of  memorials  in 
regard  to  the  marriages,  births,  and  deaths,  of  those 
who  founded  Hartford,  and  who  mainly — we  say  it  in 
the  just  light  of  history — who  mainly  founded  Con- 
necticut. True  our  Fathers,  as  if  trusting  and  believ- 
ing that  their  descendants  would  appreciate  these  me- 
morials as  valuable,  provided  for  their  due  preserva- 
tion. Early  as  1640,  they  made  it,  by  law,  the  special 
duty  of  every  Magistrate  who  '  solemnized  a  mar- 
riage'— and  a  Magistrate  alone  at  this  time,  and  down 
to  1694,  could  solemnize  it — to  "  cause  a  record  to  be 
entered  in  Courte  of  the  day  and  yere  thereof."  In 
1644  they  devolved  this  duty  of  recording,  not  only 
marriages,  but  births  also,  upon  the  Town  Clerk,  at 
sixpence  the  entry  for  the  former,  and  two  pence  for 
the  latter.     In  1650  they  extended  this  order,  with  in- 


MARRIAGES    AND    BIRTHS.  287 

creased  compensation,  to  deaths  also,  and  with  the 
new  provision  that  the  Clerk,  every  year,  should  pre- 
sent to  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony  a  true  transcript 
of  each  entry  under  a  penalty  of  forty  shillings  for 
every  neglect.  But  in  spite  of  this  penalty — in  spite 
of  another  of  five  shillings  imposed  on  every  newly 
wedded  man  who  did  not  straightway  certify  the  day 
of  his  marriage  to  the  Clerk,  and  in  spite  also  of  the 
censure  of  the  Court  which,  superadded,  hung  over 
every  default,  the  records,  save  a  few  here,  and  a  few 
there,  fail  us.  Moth  and  rust  have,  to  a  great  extent, 
corrupted  old  paper  and  old  ink.  The  pens  of  a  few 
old  scribes,  peradventure,  forgot  to  write.  The  hands 
of  some  of  their  immediate  descendants,  forgot,  it  may 
be,  to  clutch.  And  here  we  are,  wise  children — so 
thinking  ourselves  perhaps — contrary  to  the  adage — 
that  know  not,  most  of  us,  our  own  fathers,  those  that 
were  such  but  a  few  generations  back,  nor  the  fair 
maids  or  matrons,  our  mothers,  whom  they  married, 
nor  a  joy  or  a  sorrow  of  their  nuptial  life,  nor  a  sun- 
shine or  a  shadow,  a  hope  or  a  fear,  which  warmed  or 
darkened  over  the  hours  of  their  dissolution! 

Most  of  us,  we  say,  are  in  this  predicament  as  re- 
gards the  associations  of  which  we  now  speak.  Dur- 
ing the  whole  of  the  Second  Period,  embracing,  be  it 
remembered, /owr^eew  years,  hut  fifteen  marriages,  and 
about  sixti/  births  are  recorded — and  this  in  a  vigorous 
population  of  probably  between  seven  and  eight  hun- 
dred souls!  There  7nust  have  been  more!  The  births 
which  ai'e  registered  between  1650  and  1665,  and 
those,  more  numerous,  registered  soon  after — clustered 


288 


H  ARTF  O  RD, 


as  they  are  thick  under  single  pairs  of  parents — show 
abundantly,  as  straws  the  way  of  the  wind,  that  the 
early  inhabitants  of  Hartford  were  a  remarkably  pro- 
lific race — that  they  obeyed  no  canon  of  Holy  Writ 
with  more  pertinacious  fidelity  than  that  which  en- 
joined them  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply.  There  is 
John  Allyn,  for  example,  who  as  soon  as  he  gets  mar- 
ried, becomes  the  father  in  quick  succession,  of  Anna, 
and  Mary,  and  Margaret,  and  Rebecca,  and  Martha, 
and  Elizabeth,  six  daughters  'all  in  a  row.'  What  an 
example  for  a  Secretary  of  State,  as  he  \vas,  to  set! 
Then  there's  Jonailian  GUbert,  Custom-]Master  and 
Grand  Marshal  of  Connecticut,  with  his  Jonathan  Jr., 
and  Mary,  and  Sarah,  and  Lydia,  one  son  and  three 
daughters,  all  born  within  six  years  I  And  there's 
Sergeant  John  Stedman,  with  his  John  Jr.,  and  his 
Thomas,  and  Samuel,  and  Robert  and  Mary,  and 
Elizabeth,  four  sons  and  two  daughters — just — six  in 
all — and  each  following  the  other  with  the  nimble  reg- 
ularity of  little  waves  I  And  there's  Joseph  Smith, 
with  his  Joseph  Jr.,  and  his  Samuel,  and  Ephraim, 
and  Lydia,  and  Simon,  and  Nathaniel,  and  another 
Lydia,  and  on,  on — we  can  not  stop  to  name — till  he 
completes  fifteen  rounds  in  his  own  peculiar  ladder  of 
offspring  I  Then  comes  a  Merrill  family  with  ten 
children — a  Mijgatt  family  with  nine — a  Pratt,  a  Stan- 
ley, and  an  Ensign  family,  with  eight  each — and  on 
follow  the  Pitkin,  and  Seymour,  and  Wadsworth,  and 
Clark,  and  Camp  families,  and  others  really  'too  nu- 
merous to  mention,'  with  their  children,  each,  five,  six, 
and  seven  in  number — till  it  seems  at  last  as  if  the 
Town  Clerk,  unable  longer  to  'keep  the  reckoning,'  or 


MARRIAGES    AND    BIRTHS.  289 

fatigued  by  his  task,  went  to  sleep  over  the  lesson  of 
Hartford  fecundity,  and  left  the  Record  Book,  in  de- 
spair, to  take  care  of  itself!  Seriously,  Reader,  the 
Fathers  of  our  Town  were  fathers  also  of  families 
thick  almost  as  'the  leaves  of  Vallambrosa.'  The 
glimpses  afforded  us  through  what  registry  they  have 
left,  assure  us  abundantly  of  this  fact.  And  that  mar- 
riages were  frequent  among  them  we  have  also,  from 
hints  derived  here  and  there,  but  little  doubt.  Only 
fifteen  however,  as  already  stated,  are  recorded  during 
the  Second  Period — and  these,  since  they  are  few  in 
number,  and  may  perhaps  edify  some  one  in  trace  of 
genealogies,  \V6  may  as  well  re-record  here.  They  are 
as  follows: 

Jan.  2,  1650,  Anthony  Dorchester  was  married  to 
Martha  Richards — Jan.  2,  1650,  John  Rusco  to  Rebec- 
ca Beebe — 1650,  Samuel  Fitch  to  widow  Mary  Whi- 
ting— April  2, 1651,  George  Graves  to  Elizabeth  Ven- 
tris— May  27,  1652,  Samuel  Stebbin  to  Bethia  Hop- 
kins— Oct.  5,  1652,  James  Walkley  to  Alice  Boosy — 
Feb.  10,  1652,  John  Savage  to  Elizabeth  Dubbin — 
June  23, 1654,  Thomas  "Wells  to  widow  Hannah  Pan- 
try— May  3,  1655,  Edward  Grannis  to  Elizabeth  An- 
drews— April  20, 1656,  Joseph  Smith  to  Lydia  Huit — 
Jan.  15,  1656,  Christopher  Crow  to  Mary  Burr-^Oct. 
27,  1657,  John  Church  to  Sarah  Bulkley— Dec.  30, 
1658,  Paulus  Sahrich  to  widow  Mary  Am^beck,  [Dutch 
parties,  doubtless] — June  2,  1659,  Nathaniel  Stanley 
to  Sarah  Boosey  —  Oct.  22,  1663,  David  Ensign  to 
Mehitable  Gunn. 

And  now,  Reader,  let  us  look  awhile  at  the  policy 
37 


290  HARTFORD. 

which  in  the  times  of  which  we  speak,  governed  the 
relation  of  husband  and  wife.  Here,  thank  fate,  we 
can  step  out  a  little  into  the  light.  It  was  a  policy 
substantially  the  same  as  that  we  now  pursue.  It  re- 
quired the  intention  of  marriage  to  be  published,  as 
we  do  now.  It  required  that  parties,  if  under  control, 
should  secure  the  consent  of  parents,  masters  or 
guardians.  It  established  officers  to  perform  the  mar- 
riage rites,  and  demanded  that  certificates  of  its  per- 
formance should  be  lodged,  as  already  noticed,  for 
record  with  the  Town  Clerk.  There  are  two  particu- 
lars, however,  in  which  it  differed  from  our  modern 
policy,  which  deserve  mention — ^they  are  peculiar. 

First.  It  required  that  parties  who  intended  mar- 
riage should  cause  their  "  purpose  of  contract"  to  be 
published,  in  some  public  place,  or  at  some  public 
meeting,  in  the  town  where  they  dwelt,  "  at  least  eight 
days  before  they  entered  into  such  contract  ichereby 
they  engaged  themselves  each  to  the  other,  and  that 
they  should  forbear  to  join  in  the  marriage  covenant 
at  least  eight  days  after  the  said  contract."  So  that 
the  mere  intention  on  the  part  of  two  lovers  to  plight 
their  faith  was  to  be  published — and  at  least  eight 
days  before  it  could  be  done — and  sixteen  days  before 
it  could  be  carried  into  effect  by  actual  marriage! 
Odd,  odd  legislation  indeed!  No  matter  how  long 
and  assiduous  devotion  may  have  already  been,  is  the 
interpretation  of  the  law — no  matter  by  how  many 
thousand  tender  colloquies,  and  little  endearments^ 
and  tell-tale  looks,  and  betraying  sighs,  two  lovers 
may  have  abeady  unmasked  their  hearts,  and  unmis- 
takeably  chained  them,  for  all  time,  to  each  other — 


MARRIAGES    AND    BIRTHS.  291 

still  the  words  of  engagement  are  not  to  pass  their 
lips  until  eight  days'  notice  has  been  given  of  the  pur- 
pose of  uttering  them!  They  may  wanton  with  all 
sails  set,  with  all  the  canvass  of  all  the  Cupids,  in 
Love's  sea  of  dalliance — the  calls  constant  as  the  sun- 
set, the  walks,  the  rides,  the  presents,  the  electrifying 
pressure  of  the  hand,  the  fond  kiss,  the  tender  em- 
brace, with  all  these  soft  'appliances'  they  may  vivify 
and  ripen  their  intercourse  of  affection  —  nay,  they 
may  even  give  tongue  to  their  swelling  hearts  in  al- 
most every  phrase  of  passion — their  rosy  lips  may  syl- 
able,  in  tones  "sweet  and  musical  as  bright  Apollo's 
lute,"  every  '■Declaration  of  love'  that  Love's  ingenu- 
ity can  devise — still,  they  must  Tiot  engage  themselves ! 
Still — stubborn,  joyless,  fruitless  task — they  must  not 
reciprocate  the  words — "/'//  marry  youV  The  sov- 
ereignty of  Connecticut  forbids  it!  Law  in  its  dread 
majesty  interposing,  sinks  like  a  dense,  appalling 
cloud  between  two  idolizing  hearts,  just  at  the  mo- 
ment when  a  blissful  attraction  is  about  to  incorporate 
them  into  one  by  the  dearest  of  all  mutual  promises, 
and  darkens  them  apart  —  nor  does  it  rise  from  the 
bliss  that  it  severs,  till  after  eight  long  revolutions  of 
this  dull,  slow  earth  upon  its  grating  axis!  Oh  Cupid, 
Venus,  Hymen — god  of  love,  mother  of  love,  divinity 
of  marriage!  Heard  ye  ever  of  such  law  as  this?  So 
like  attempting  to  stop  an  avalanche  with  a  bag  of 
sand!  Or  to  arrest  a  fever  with  an  inch-cake  of  ice! 
Or  to  stay  a  conflagration  with  a  drop  of  cold  water! 
Law  so  utterly  impracticable — for 

"  Love  knoweth  every  form  of  air, 
And  every  shape  of  earth!" 


292  HARTFORD. 

Just  as  if  the  General  Court  had  eyes  which  could  see 
in  the  darkness,  and  pierce  through  walls  of  wood  or 
brick,  and  glare  in  upon  every  nook  and  corner  where 
the  Romeos  and  Juliets  of  this  world  hide  them- 
selves— to  observe  what  they  are  about !  We'll  wa- 
ger the  bow,  and  quiver,  and  helmet,  and  spear,  and 
torch,  and  butterfly — all  together — of  that  little  naked, 
winged  infant  whom  we  have  just  invoked,  that  the 
lovers  of  the  olden  time,  in  '  courtship's  smiling  day,' 
in  the  sweet  torr  >nt  of  their  passions  swept  away 
every  trace  of  constraint,  and  as  lovers  do  now, 
launched  into  their  contracts  to  marry — '  popped  the 
question' — just  when  '  the  fit  was  on  them' — ^without 
consulting  old  Father  Time  a  whit,  and  regardless, 
most  generally,  even  of  place. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  old  marriage  policy  we 
are  contemplating  was,  that  it  specially  forbade  the 
intermeddling  of  third  persons,  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing union  between  parties  who  were  not  at  their 
own  disposal.  Wedlock  was  a  matter,  our  Fathers 
thought,  for  an  age  of  fixed  discretion,  and  a  state  of 
personal  independence,  "  Puppy  love"  was  not  in 
odor  with  them.  Little  boys  and  girls,  beardless 
youths  and  misses  just  out  of  pantalettes,  could  not  in 
their  opinion,  make  prudent  matches.  They  were  too 
unseasoned,  too  redolent  of  poetry,  too  heedless,  too 
untempered  by  time,  too  fragile  in  stalk  and  green  in 
the  leaf.  The  clay  of  their  being  was  not  hardened 
enough  for  double  duty.     And  love — a  fire 

"  tluit  bums  and  sparkles 
la  man  as  nat'rally  as  in  charcoals" — 


MARRIAGES    AND    BIRTHS.  293 

was  too  often  with  them,  it  was  thought,  a  conflagra- 
tion that  consumed  the  practical  virtues.  Too  often 
the  product  of  sheer  impulse — "  all  made  of  passion, 
and  all  made  of  wishes" — it  was  infatuated,  tempestu- 
ous, and  a  wasting  plague.  So  the  Fathers  of  Hart- 
ford believed — for  they  state  as  a  special  reason  for 
the  regulation  under  consideration,  and  for  their  nup- 
tial policy  in  general,  that  many  persons  do  "  intangle 
themselves  by  rashe  and  inconsiderate  contracts  for 
theire  future  joininge  in  marriage  covenant,  to  the 
great  trouble  and  griefe  of  themselves  and  theire 
friends."  And  so  they  discouraged  early  marriages, 
and  would  allow  no  intermeddling  to  bring  them 
about.  Your  regular  match-maker — operating  upon 
those  who  were  subordinated  to  authority,  and  whose 
very  condition,  it  was  thought,  implied  inability  to 
judge  wisely  for  themselves,  especially  in  a  matter  so 
grave,  so  responsible,  so  moulding  to  temper  and  char- 
acter, as  wedlock — was  with  them  a  very  grave  of- 
fender. Caught — and  straightway  the  General  Court 
thundered  its  own  "  severe  censure"  in  his  trembling 
ears.  Such  was  the  penalty,  in  olden  time,  for  vicari- 
ous nuptial  services  to  the  juveniles.  Suppose  it  was 
the  penalty  now — now  when  the  affections,  more  than 
ever,  have  become  merchandise  in  the  hands  of  bar- 
terers — now  when  Love  scarcely  uses  wings  at  all, 
but  sits,  his  plumes  robbed  of  '  half  their  light,'  his 
'  fields  of  bliss  above'  forgotten,  sits  like  a  stool 
pigeon,  perched  in  the  market  of  expediency  and 
cash — a  lure  and  a  prey  to  the  evil  brokerage  of  both 
sexes !     What    a    world  of   duty  our  modern   Legis- 


•294  HARTFORD. 

latures  Avould  have  to  perform,  were  the  old  law  in 
force  now!     Don't  you  think  so,  Reader? 

Yet  the  regulations,  all  of  which  we  have  now  spo- 
ken— however  cin*ious  they  may  seem  to  us — however 
in  some  respects  impracticable  perhaps — were  still,  it 
must  be  conceded,  highly  conservative  in  purpose. 
Discriminating,  as  they  did,  between  the  intention  to 
form  a  matrimonial  engagement,  the  engagement  it- 
self, and  its  official  consummation,  and  interposing 
delays  between  these  different  stages  of  the  nuptial 
march — striking,  as  they  did  also,  at  all  improvident 
intermeddling  with  the  affairs  of  the  heart — and  visit- 
ing disobedience  to  their  mandates,  as  they  did,  w^ith 
the  '  severe,'  formal,  superior,  dreaded,  personal  rebuke 
of  the  General  Court — they  certainly  show  a  stronger 
disposition  than  do  our  present  laws,  to  bridle  by  a 
high  and  wise  caution  the  erotic  fancies  of  our  race. 
"  The  prosperity  and  well  being  of  Commonwealths," 
say  the  Founders  of  Connecticut  in  their  recorded 
legislation,  "  much  depend  upon  the  well  govern- 
ment and  ordering  of  particular  families,"  and  this, 
they  add,  "  cannot  be  expected  where  the  rules  of  God 
are  neglected  in  laying-  the  foundation  of  a  family 
state."  View  of  the  marriage  relation  this  which  is 
elevated  indeed !  "Well  were  it  felt,  followed,  and 
admired,  more  than  it  is,  in  this  our  own  day  and 
generation !  Oh  how  much  less  frequently  then 
should  we  hear  of  '  shadows  in  love's  summer  heav- 
en,' of  dissension  between  hearts  once  fond,  and 
of  the  dark,  wild,  saddening  ruptures  of  divorce ! 

Sc^VA. 


|[artf0rL 


DEATHS   BETWEEN"  1G50  AND  1665.     REV.  S.  STONE- 
GOV.  HAYNES— GOV.  HOPKINS.    PERIOD  SECOND. 

No.  28. 

"  Death  is  the  most  remarkable  action  of  human  life.  It  is  the  ^Master-day, 
the  day  that  judges  all  the  rest."  Move's  Catholici. 

"  If  I  were  a  composer  of  books,  I  would  compose  a  re^ster  of  different 
deaths,  with  a  commentary ;  for  whoever  could  teach  man  how  to  die,  would 
teach  him  how  to  hve."  Montaigne. 

"  Master-day" — aye  even  so  is  Death !  Cramping 
life  at  last  into  a  single  startling  inch,  it  flashes  a 
judging  conscience,  like  lightning,  through  the  whole 
scarce  palpitating  mass  of  human  thought,  and  word, 
and  deed — and  suddenly  all  is  still !  You  are  in  the 
chamber  of  another  Judgment!  To  the  fold  of  that 
awful,  viewless  chamber — in  the  dread  Unknown — 
how  many  Spirits  of  Hartford  passed,  in  the  time  of 
which  we  speak  ?  Who  died  ?  How  did  they  die  ? 
Could  thei/  have  taught  us  '  how  to  live  V 

Reader,  little  is  left  here  for  our  instruction  and  re- 
proof— this  little,  however,  we  have  garnered. 

The  Book  of  our  Probate  Records,  covering  the 
twelve  years  from  1650  down  to  May  23d,  1662, 
is  lost — irrecoverably  so,  we  fear.     Deprived  of  this 


296  HARTFORD. 

resource  then,  we  'have  carefully  examined  old  wills 
and  inventories.  Few  of  these  are  left,  but  enough 
to  enable  us  to  add  some  seventeen  to  our  Dead 
List,  making  with  what  we  have  derived  from  other 
sources,  twenty-eight  names  in  all — a  number,  how- 
ever, which  unquestionably  falls  far  short  of  the  true 
one.  Of  these  names  all,  save  two,  are  those  of 
males,  as  if  in  the  interval  we  contemplate,  man 
alone  was  born  to  die,  and  woman,  fair  woman, 
never  bit  the  dust — or  as  if  man  only,  perhaps,  was 
destined  to  leave  even  a  trace  of  existence,  and 
woman,  'too  bright  to  be  lasting,'  too  insubstantial 
to  be  clad  in  the  long  dresses  of  memory,  were  the 
sole  prize  for  Time's  '  effacing  fingers' — ordained,  on 
his  ever  rolling  stream,  to  be 

"  Like  snow  that  falls  upon  a  river, 
A  moment  seen,  then  gone  forever." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  names  of  but  two  females 
come  down  to  us  from  the  era  on  which  we  now 
dwell,  to  '  whisper  faint  echoes'  of  that  far  past,  and 
'  point  to  earth,  and  hiss  at  human  pride  I'  They  will 
be  found  in  the  List  which  follows. 

Died  in  Hartford  in  May,  1650,  John  Selden,  a  young 
son  of  Thomas  Selden.  In  June,  1651,  Li/dia,  a 
young  daughter  of  Thomas  Selden,  and  Oct.  14th  of 
this  year,  John  Wilcox.  In  1652,  James  Cole.  In 
1653,  Richard  Watts,  John  Pantry  and  Elizabeth  An- 
dreivs.  In  1654,  Thomas  Olcott,  John  Hopkins,  and 
March  1st  of  this  year  Governor  John  Haijnes.  In 
1655,  William  Gibbons,  William  Phillips,  Thomas  Sel- 
den, John  Moody,  John  Pratt,  and  June  12th  of  this 


DEATHS    BETWEEN    1650     AND    1665.  297 

year  Thomas  Gridley.  In  1657,  John  Mai/nard,  and 
in  March  of  this  year,  in  England,  Governor  Edward 
Hopkins.  In  1659,  William  Andreics.  In  1660,  Sam- 
uel Smith,  an  infant.  In  1661,  Sep.  14th,  John  Wake- 
man.  In  1663,  George  Steele,  Casper  Varlett,  Deacon 
Edivard  Stebbing",  Capt.  Richard  Lord,  and  July  20th 
of  this  year  Rev.  Samuel  Stone.  In  1664,  Jolin  Arnold 
and  Lydia  Smith,  an  infant. 

Of  the  above,  three  from  their  eminence  deserve 
particular  notice — Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  Governor  John 
Haynes,  and  Governor  Edivard  Hopkins.  They  are 
passing  away  you  see.  Reader — that  first  generation 
of  the  Settlers — the  high  as  well  as  the  humble — to 
the  returnless  home!  Commemorating,  as  they  de- 
serve, the  three  whom  we  name,  let  us  with 

"  Honor's  voice  provoke  [their]  silent  dust!" 

Mr.  Stone  was  born  at  Hartford  in  England,  in  the 
year  1602,  and  was  early  distinguished  for  a  mind  of 
uncommon  strength  and  clearness.  A  graduate  of 
Cambridge  University,  and  a  lecturer  afterwards,  with 
great  success,  at  Towcester,  he  came  to  this  country 
with  Mr.  Hooker  in  1633,  accomplished  as  a  scholar, 
experienced  as  a  preacher,  and  a  devoted  Puritan. 
One  of  the  chief  agents,  as  we  have  had  occasion  to 
notice,  in  the  purchase  of  Hartford — the  source,  in 
compliment  to  his  own  birthplace,  of  its  name — he 
devoted  himself  to  its  interests  with  uniform  fidelity, 
and  uprightness.  First  chaplain  in  that  first  War  for 
Connecticut  Independence  which  closed  in  the  flames 
of  the  Pequot  fort,  as  upon  this  memorable  occasion, 
so  ever  after  in  life,  his  efforts  and  his  prayers  were 
38 


298 


HARTFORD. 


directed  zealously  and  unaffectedly  to  the  good  of  his 
new  home. 

As  a  preacher,  he  was  doctrinal  and  argumentative. 
A  great  student  of  theology,  and  skilled  in  sacred  phi- 
lology, he  was  an  acute  and  accurate  disputant — 
ready  upon  all  occasions,  in  the  august  presence  of  the 
General  Court,  as  he  once  proposed,  or  elsewhere,  to 
"reason  syllogistically,  face  to  face"  with  any  cham- 
pion whom  chance  or  design  might  throw  in  his  way. 
He  seldom  used  WTitten  sermons.  His  style  was  ner- 
vous, and  he  "was  often  eloquent.  In  applying  his 
subject  he  was  brief  but  pungent,  and  remarkable  for 
"  notably  digesting  in  his  prayers  the  doctrine  of  his 
discourse."  It  was  his  custom,  on  the  evening  pre- 
ceding Sunday,  to  deliver  in  the  presence  of  his  fam- 
ily the  sermon  he  intended  for  the  morrow,  and  he  was 
distinguished  for  his  exact  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  for  the  frequency  of  his  private  devotions.  As  a 
civilian,  he  mingled  freely  in  public  affairs.  Great 
confidence  was  reposed  in  his  judgment  both  by  the 
Town  of  Hartford,  and  by  the  General  Court — and  so 
we  find  him  often  serving  upon  important  committees, 
and  in  arbitrations — now  conferring  with  Sowheag  in 
a  difficulty  between  that  powerful  Sachem  and  the 
people  of  Wethersfield — now  with  several  laymen  as- 
sociated to  '  approve'  a  minister  for  Middletown — now 
the  companion  of  Winthrop  in  his  voyage  to  England 
to  procure  the  old  Charter,  and  otherwise  variously 
employed  as  agent  for  the  transaction  of  public  busi- 
ness. As  a  man,  he  was  amiable,  frank,  of  easy  man- 
ners, of  winning  address,  and  noted  particularly  for 
his  pleasantry  and  his  wit.     It  was  a  keen  jester  in- 


DEATHS    BETWEEN     1650     AND    1665.  299 

deed  that  he  could  not  vanquish  in  repartee.  His 
society  was  sought  by  all,  and  especially  by  men  of 
ingenious  minds,  some  of  whom  visited  him  for  the 
purpose  of  having  doubts  satisfactorily  resolved,  some 
for  the  purpose  simply  of  garnering  up  the  rich  stores 
of  his  conversation,  and  some  to  provoke  and  enjoy  his 
wit.  He  was  a  kind  husband,  a  fond  father,  a  pure 
patriot,  and  one  of  the  sincerest  of  Christians — so  up- 
right, so  public-spirited,  so  full  of  heart,  and  full  of 
mind,  as  amply  to  deserve  Mather's  eulogy  of  him  as 
"a  precious  gem  laid  deep  in  the  foundations  of  New 
England."  Hartford  may  well  be  proud  of  him,  and 
remember  him  with  gratitude  and  veneration! 

He  died,  as  above  stated,  in  1663,  and  of  a  disease 
which  destroyed  his  gall.  He  seems  to  have  antici- 
pated this  event  with  great  composure.  In  his  Will 
he  speaks  of  himself  as  '  invited  and  called'  to  execute 
his  last  testament  "by  a  gracious  visitation  and  a 
warning  from  the  Lord."  He  dwells  on  the  fact  that 
"through  the  gentle  and  tender  dealing  of  the  Lord," 
he  is  "in  full  and  perfect  memory" — and  premising 
further,  with  eloquent  solemnity,  that  "  all  men  on 
earth  are  mortal,"  that  "the  time  of  dying,  with  the 
manner  thereof,  is  only  foreknown  and  predetermined 
by  the  Majesty  on  high,"  and  that  it  is  "a  duty  in- 
cumbent on  all  so  far  forth  to  set  their  house  in  order 
as  considerately  to  determine  and  dispose  of  all  their 
outward  estate,  that  righteousness  and  peace,  with 
love,  may  be  maintained,"  he  goes  on  to  distribute  his 
five  hundred  and  sixty-three  pounds  worth  of  property. 
To  his  son  chiefly  he  gives  his  library,  valued  at  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  pounds,  together  with  half 


300  HARTFORD. 

his  'housing  and  land' — to  his  wife  and  other  children, 
four  daughters,  portions  of  his  remaining  estate.  To 
his  intimate  friend  the  Rev.  John  Higginson  of  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  he  bequeaths  his  numerous  manu- 
scripts, with  instructions  to  select  and  print  such  as  he 
thinks  suitable  for  the  press,  and  'especially'  his  'cate- 
chism.' Few  of  these,  however,  seem  ever  to  have 
been  published.  With  the  exception  of  his  "  Cate- 
chism,^^ his  able  and  elaborate  treatise  entitled  "«  Body 
of  Divinity, ^^*  his  "  Discourse  about  the  logical  notion 
of  a  Congregational  Church^''  in  which  he  strikes  at 
the  system  of  a  national  political  Church,  and  his 
"  Confutation  of  the  Antinomians,^^  we  know  of  none 
of  his  works  that  are  extant.  They  lie  in  the  dust  of 
that  oblivion  which,  thanks  to  chance,  does  not  cover 
his  own — for  close  by  the  grave  of  his  noble  friend 
and  coadjutor  Mr.  Hooker,  in  the  Centre  Burying 
Yard,  and  beneath  a  plain  slab  of  red  sandstone  or 
freestone  supported  by  pillars,  he  lies  buried,  with  the 
following  richly  merited  epitaph  upon  his  tomb : 

"  New  England's  glory,  and  her  radiant  crowne, 
Was  he  who  now  in  softest  bed  of  downe, 
Till  glorious  resuiTection  morne  appeare, 
Doth  safely,  sweetly  sleepe  in  Jesus  here. 
In  nature's  solid  art,  and  reasoning  well, 
'Tis  knowne,  beyond  compare,  he  did  excell: 
Errors  corrupt,  by  sinnewous  dispute. 
He  did  oppugne,  and  clearly  them  confute : 
Above  all  things  he  Christ  his  Lord  preferred — 
Hartford,  thy  richest  jewel's  here  interred." 

*A  copy  of  this,  in  manuscript,  is  iu  the  Library  of  tlie  Connecticut 
Historical  Society. 


DEATHS    BETWEEN    1650     AND    1665.  301 

John  Haijnes*  came  from  England  to  this  country 
in  1633,  with  Mr.  Hooker.  Of  his  history  previous  to 
this  period  little  is  known  beyond  the  fact  that  he  pos- 
sessed an  elegant  seat,  known  as  Cropford  Hall, 
which  was  situated  in  the  County  of  Essex,  in  En- 
gland, and  was  worth  a  thousand  pounds  a  year.  He 
settled  first  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1634 
was  chosen  one  of  the  Assistants  of  that  Colony,  and 
in  1635  its  Governor.  In  1637  we  find  him  in  Hart- 
ford, and  chosen  this  year  a  member  of  the  General 
Court.  He  is  returned  to  the  same  office  again  in 
1638,  and  in  1639,  under  the  new  Constitution,  then 
for  the  first  time  put  in  operation,  we  find  him,  as  first 
Governor  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  assembled  freemen,  according  to  the  form 
of  oath  by  them  prescribed,  swearing  "  by  the  great 
and  ever  dreadful  name  of  the  ever  living  God  to  pro- 
mote the  public  peace  and  good  within  this  jurisdic- 
tion." Thus  selected  to  launch  the  infant  govern- 
ment, John  Haynes  was  nearly  every  alternate  year, 
chosen  to  stand  the  pilot  at  its  head.  Confidence  was 
so  great  in  his  integrity  and  capacity,  that  had  not  the 
Constitution  prevented  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt  he 
would  have  been  annually  elected  to  fill  the  impor- 
tant post  of  Chief  Magistrate.  He  was  also  once 
and  again  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies  of  New  England.  He  was  in  fact, 
with  Mr.  Hooker,  the  principal  author  of  the  Confed- 


*  We  published  full  biographical  sketches  of  Governor  Haynes  and  Gov- 
ernor Hopkins,  in  the  Hartford  Courants  of  July  2d  and  July  4th,  1845. 
From  these  we  have  in  part  condensed  in  the  text. 


302  Hartford. 

eration  of  1643.  He  seems  to  have  early  foreseen  the 
importance  of  this  measm-e  to  which,  under  God,  the 
New  England  Colonies,  owed  especially  their  safety 
and  prosperity,  and  he  pursued  it  with  a  zeal  and  a 
sagacity  worthy  of  the  cause.  It  was  emphatically  a 
Connecticut  measure,  and  we  take  a  pride  in  claiming 
it  as  such.  In  his  public  capacity  Governor  Haynes 
was  constantly  charged  with  high  and  responsible  du- 
ties, and  often  with  tasks  delicate  and  difficult — all  of 
which  he  seems  to  have  discharged  with  accuracy, 
skill,  good  judgment,  and  impartiality.  His  liberality 
in  behalf  of  the  Colony  knew  no  bounds.  He  ex- 
pended freely  from  his  own  private  fortune  whenever 
the  public  exigencies  demanded  it.  His  deportment, 
though  always  staid,  was  yet  affable  and  engaging. 
In  his  domestic  relations  he  was  kind  and  prudent. 
He  paid  special  attention  to  family  government  and 
instruction.  His  piety  was  eminent,  and,  what  is 
more,  he  was  nobly  tolerant  in  his  piety.  A  senti- 
ment of  his  is  preserved  which  breathes  the  true  spirit 
of  Christian  charity,  and  deserves  to  be  recorded  in 
letters  of  gold.  "TAe  most  wise  God^''  he  said  to 
Roger  Williams  when  the  latter  was  once  his  guest  at 
Hartford,  '■'■hath  provided  and  cut  out  this  part  of  his 
world  for  a  refuge  and  receptacle  of  all  sorts  of  con- 
sciences !^^  Of  his  deep  and  sincere  attachment  to  re- 
ligious truth  and  civil  freedom  he  gave  signal  proof, 
not  only  in  his  willingness  to  exchange  the  comforts 
and  refinements  of  Cropford  Hall  for  the  trials  and 
dangers  of  a  wilderness,  but  in  all  the  acts  of  his  long 
and  useful  life.     He  was  in  every  respect  a  worthy 


DEATHS    BKTWEEN    1650    AND    1665.  303 

companion  of  such  men  as  Hooker,  and  Stone,  and 
Ludlow,  and  Warham,  and  Hopkins,  and  Wyllys,  and 
Wolcott,  in  founding  and  settling  a  new  Colony,  and 
must  ever  be  regarded  by  all  who  esteem  piety,  and 
love  freedom,  and  value  efforts  in  their  behalf,  as  one 
of  the  eminent  fathers  of  Connecticut.  He  is  buried 
side  by  side  with  his  friends  and  companions  Mr. 
Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone,  and  side  by  side  with  five  of 
his  children,  in  the  Centre  Burying  Yard.  A  large 
flat  table  of  reddish  stone,  supported  by  four  pillars, 
marks  the  spot,  not  far  from  the  entrance  to  the  yard. 
"  Here  lyeth,"  proceeds  the  inscription,  "  the  body  of 
the  Hon.  John  Haynes,  first  Governor  of  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut  in  New  England,  who  dyed  on  the  1st 
of  March,  1653-4."  "With  Mather  we  may  believe 
that  "  as  he  was  a  great  friend  of  peace  while  he 
lived,  so  at  his  death  he  entered  into  that  peace  which 
attends  the  end  of  the  perfect  and  upright  man." 

Echcard  Hopkins  was  born  near  Shrewsbury  in  En- 
gland, in  the  year  1600.  He  was  early  bred  to  the 
business  of  a  merchant,  in  which  he  became,  partic- 
ularly in  the  trade  with  Turkey,  eminently  successful, 
and  in  London  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  Coming 
to  this  country  in  1637,  on  the  year  succeeding  his 
arrival,  he  joined  the  settlement  in  Hartford,  and  was 
received  here  with  high  consideration.  His  wealth, 
and  piety,  and  business  capacity,  elevated  him  at  once 
to  respect  and  to  office.  He  was  chosen  first  Secre- 
tary of  the  Colony,  under  the  new  Constitution  in 
1639,  and  the  next  year  was  elected  Governor  of  the 
Colony.  Between  this  time  and  the  year  1654  he  was 
seven  times  elevated  to  this  office,  alternating  usually 


304 


HARTFORD, 


with  John  Haynes,  and  frequently  filling  the  office  of 
Deputy  Governor,  when  not  chosen  to  the  highest 
post.  He  was  also  at  times  chosen  Assistant,  and 
very  frequently  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Uni- 
ted Colonies.  On  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  in 
1654,  he  went  to  England  to  look  after  a  property 
which  there  fell  to  him.  His  passage  out  was  exceed- 
ingly tempestuous,  and  once  the  ship  in  which  he 
sailed  was  in  imminent  peril  of  being  destroyed  by 
fire.  Upon  his  arrival  he  was  almost  immediately 
made  Warden  of  the  fleet,  a  post  that  had  been  filled 
by  his  brother,  and  afterwards  Commissioner  of  the 
Admiralty  and  the  Navy,  and  member  of  Parliament. 
The  high  appreciation  of  his  talents  in  England,  as 
well  as  the  infirm  state  of  his  health,  induced  him  to 
give  up  the  plan  of  returning  again  to  Connecticut, 
although  he  had  been  chosen  Governor  of  the  Colony 
during  his  absence.  He  accordingly  sent  from  Lon- 
don for  his  family,  who  safely  arrived.  While  in  En- 
gland he  was  in  many  ways  serviceable  to  the  Col- 
onies. He  printed  at  his  own  expense  the  body  of 
laws  compiled  by  the  New  Haven  Colony.  His  aid 
and  advice  were  freely  given  to  the  agent  sent  out  by 
Connecticut  to  report  to  Cromwell  the  wrongs  from 
the  Dutch,  and  to  solicit  a  naval  force.  He  died  in 
March,  1657,  leaving  in  his  will  striking  proof  of  a 
bountiful  public  spirit,  and  charitable  nature.  By  this 
will  he  gave  numerous  legacies  to  individuals,  and 
nearly  his  whole  estate  in  New  England  to  pious 
uses,  and  among  the  rest  that  fund,  to  which  we  have 
heretofore  adverted,  which  founded  and  has  supported 
the  Hartford  Grammar  School.     He  was  a  man  fervid 


DEATHS    BETWEEN    1650    AND    1665.  305 

in  his  religious  feelings,  and  uncommonly  exact  in  his 
religious  observances  both  in  public  and  in  private. 
His  last  words*  breathe  a-  spirit  of  love  and  resigna- 
tion, and  express  a  pleasing  reminiscence  of  his  life  in 
Connecticut.  To  have  aided  in  founding  a  Colony — 
not  for  conquest,  our  fathers  thought  not  of  that — nor 
for  riches,  they  had  no  lust  for  gold — ^but  for  freedom 
and  for  faith — to  have  guided  an  infant  State  with 
watchfulness  and  with  wisdom  for  many  years  —  to 
have  freely  helped 'its  necessities,  and  the  wants  of  the 
poor,  and  the  wants  of  the  church,  from  the  earnings 
of  his  own  industry  and  the  gifts  of  fortune — to  have 
been  ever  active  and  faithful  for  good,  though  feeble  in 
body  from  wasting  disease — to  have  been  hopeful  and 
trustful  though  sorely  tried  by  domestic  afflictionf — 
to  have  been  prudent,  generous,  dutiful  and  affection- 
ate— to  have  looked  ever  in  humility,  and  prayer,  and 
gratitude,  to  the  source  of  all  human  strength — such 
is  the  bead-roll  of  duties  done,  and  virtues  shown, 
which  the  Spirit  of  Hopkins  had  to  tell  over  at  the 
Bar  of  final  account. 

f  Sc^VA. 


*  "  How  often,"  said  he,  "have  I  pleased  myself  with  thoughts  of  a  joyful 
visit  with  my  father  Eaton.  I  remember  with  what  pleasure  he  came  down 
the  street  that  he  might  meet  me  when  I  came  from  Hartford  to  New  Haven; 
but  with  how  much  greater  pleasure  shall  we  shortly  meet  one  another  in 
heaven." 

t  His  wife  was  insane. 

39 


Ilartfortr. 


THE  SCHOOL.  REFLECTIONS.  GOOD-BYE. 
PERIOD  SECOND. 

No.  29. 

"  Where  the  white  school-house,  with  its  daily  drill 
Of  sunbum'd  children,  smiles  upon  the  hOl." 

Brainard. 

"  To  point  a  mural,  and  adorn  a  tale." 

Pojje. 

"  Should  it  be  my  lot  to  go  that  way  again,  I  may  give  those  that  desire  it 
an  account  of  what  I  here  am  silent  about ;  meantime  I  bid  my  Reader  fare- 
well." Pilgrim^s  Progress. 

The  School — we  must  not  forget  this  noblest  of 
institutions — this  founder  of  free  States — this  foun- 
tain of  intelligence — this  broad,  vital,  massive  pillar  of 
true  civilization !  Its  aspect  during  the  First  Period 
of  Hartford  we  have  already  described.  We  found  it 
then  the  object  of  the  Settlers'  most  tender  care — 
planted  at  once,  firmly  and  deeply,  with  Church  and 
State,  in  the  new  soil  they  came  to  possess.  Their 
regard  for  its  support  and  improvement  continued, 
unabated,  during  the  Second  Period.     Let  us  see ! 

Ordered,  says  the  Code  of  1650,  that  each  Town- 
ship of  fifty  householders    shall   maintain    a    School- 


308         HARTFORD.   THE  SCHOOL. 

master,  and  every  Town  of  one  hundred  household- 
ers shall  set  up  a  Grammar  School  whose  Master  shall 
be  able  to  fit  scholars  for  the  University — and  this 
because  it  is  "  one  project  of  that  old  deluder  Sathan 
to  keep  men  from  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures," 
and  because  it  is  vital  that  Learning  should  "  not 
be  buried  in  the  Grave  of  our  Forefathers !"  An 
order  this  which  at  once  indicates  earnest  attention 
to  education.  Satan's  particular  effort  at  this  time, 
as  in  '  former  times,'  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Settlers,  to  "  perswade  them /rom  the  use  of  Tongues, 
so  that  the  true  sence  and  meaning  of  the  originall 
[Scriptures]  might  bee  clouded  with  false  glosses 
of  saint-seeming  deceivers."  They  thought  that  as 
once  he  sat  close  by  the  ear  of  Eve, 

"  Assaying  by  his  devilish  art  to  reach 
The  organs  of  her  fancy," 

SO  at  the  ears  of  her  descendants  in  the  New  World 
he  was  striving  to  sit,  and  forge,  out  of  their  ignor- 
ance of  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  Hebrew*, 

"Illusions  as  he  list,  phantasms  and  dreams." 

They  did  not  like  his  scholarship.  They  had  no  confi- 
dence in  him  as  a  philologist,  nor  in  his  literary  pupils 
either,  and  so  they  determined  that  none  of  their  com- 
munity should  graduate  under  his  instruction,  nor  be 
prevented  from  setting  aside  that  sable  curtain  which 
the  Arch-Deluder  was  ever  attempting  to  hang  over 
the  treasures  of  the  Bible.  So  they  established  a 
Grammar  School,  "  to  fit  scholars  for  the  Universiti/,''^ 


REFLECTIONS.       GOOD-BYE.  309 

and  kept  up  scrupulously  their  contributions  towards 
a  fellowship  in  Harvard  College ! 

This  School  deserves  particular  notice.  It  was  one, 
as  its  establishment  implies,  of  a  higher  order  than 
the  Common  School,  but  whether  united  at  first  with 
this  last,  or  separately  kept,  does  not  appear.  It  early 
received,  1664,  at  the  hand  of  Governor  Hopkins,  a 
legacy  of  four  hundred  pounds,  in  order  that  '  hopeful 
youths'  might  be  encouraged  "  in  a  way  of  learning, 
for  the  public  service  in  future  times."  It  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  day.  The  "  Hartford  Gram- 
mar School,"  now  in  connection  with  our  High 
School,  is  its  lineal  descendant.  The  fund  given 
by  Governor  Hopkins,  through  the  wise  management, 
down  to  1798,  of  Town  Committees,  and  since  of 
a  Board  of  Trustees,  has  been  increased  to  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  The  School,  in  all  courtesy,  should 
have  borne  the  name  of  the  Governor  who  endoived 
it  1 1  In  the  noble  lines  addressed  by  the  scholars 
of  this  Institution  to  their  ancient  Benefactor,  through 
the  truly  graceful  pen  of  Mrs.  Sigourney,  how  hearti- 
ly can  we  all  unite ! 

"  Patron  and  Founder,  grateful  thought  doth  turn 
Reverently  to  thee. 

*  *  *  * 

What  throngs  have  drank  the  waters  of  the  spring 
That  thou  did'st  open  here ! 

We  see  them  come 
Back  through  the  mists  of  time.     Where  now  we  sport 
They  played,  with  merry  shout  and  flying  ball, 
And  trundled  hoop,  or  o'er  the  frozen  flood, 
Glided  with  steel-araied  foot. 

As  now  we  bend 
O'er  Livy's  lore,  or  Homer's  glowing  page, 


310         HARTFORD.   THE  SCHOOL. 

Or  the  long  task  of  figures,  without  end, — 
They  bent,  perchance  to  hide  vexation's  tear — 
They  rose  to  men. — 

Some  from  tlie  pnlpit  spake 
High  words  of  holy  AVaming,  some  essayed 
Of  jurisprudence  the  unmeasured  toil — 
Some  watchful  at  the  couch  of  wan  disease, 
Parried  the  spoiler's  shaft.     To  giddy  youth 
Some,  from  the  teacher's  chair,  grave  precepts  dealt, 
Some,  'mid  the  statesman's  perils,  rode  to  fame, — 
And  others  tested  'mid  the  risks  of  trade 
The  value  of  the  wisdom  gathered  here. — 
All  were  thy  debtors. 

Sure  these  classic  walls 
Should  ne'er  forget  thee,  but,  with  honor,  grave 
Tliy  name  upon  their  tablets — for  the  eye 
Of  far  posterity." 

While  thus  nobly  founding  a  school  of  a  higher 
grade,  the  citizens  of  Hartford,  during  its  Second 
Period,  never  forgot  the  Common  School.  "  A  '  bar- 
barisme,''  they  called  it,  "  not  to  be  able  perfectly  to 
read  the  Inglish  tongue,"  and  know  the  Capital  Laws, 
and  be  grounded  in  the  rules  of  religion!  And  so  they 
would  for  all — rich  or  poor,  high  or  humble,  gifted  by 
the  God  of  every  soul  of  us  with  capacities  naturally 
great  or  small — they  icould,  they  did  for  all,  with  an 
earnestness  noble  and  constant,  provide  education — 
now  supporting  it  jointly  by  the  Town  and  by  par- 
ents— now  considering  "  what  way  may  be  best  for 
the  caring  and  end  of  a  free  school" — now  demand- 
ing either  a  little  load  of  wood,  or  three  shillings 
towards  procuring  it,  from  each  pupil — now  hiring 
rooms,  as  those  of  John  Church,  for  scholars — now 
appointing  Committees  "  to  buy  or  build  a  School- 
house" — now    appropriating    money,    as   in    one   in- 


REFLECTIONS.       GOOD-BYE.  311 

stance  forty  pounds  at  once,  towards  the  erection 
of  such  a  building — and  all  the  while  cheerfully  tax- 
ing themselves  to  remunerate  Samuel  Fitch,  and  Wil- 
lia7n  Pitkin,  and  a  Mr.  Davis,  both  teacher  and 
preacher,  who,  after  Andrews,  in  their 

"noisy  mansion,  skilled  to  rule, 
As  village  masters  taught  their  little  school." 

Nor  did  their  care  stop  with  providing  merely 
school-houses  and  teachers.  They  made  it  the  spe- 
cial duty  of  their  Selectmen,  under  a  penalty  of  twen- 
ty shillings,  to  see  that  children  and  apprentices  re- 
ceived a  proper  education,  and  empowered  them,  in 
case  parents  or  masters  neglected  their  duty  in  this 
respect,  to  take  minors,  and  place  them,  the  boys  till 
they  were  twenty-one,  and  the  girls  till  they  were 
eighteen,  under  persons  Avho  would  be  faithful  to  the 
charge  of  instructing  them — that  they  might  be  fitted 
for  "some  honest,  lawful  labor  or  employment,  and  not 
become  rude,  stubborn  and  unruly."  In  addition  to 
this,  their  Selectmen  were  to  see  that  all  masters  of 
families  catechised  their  children  and  servants,  once  a 
week,  '  in  the  grounds  and  principles  of  religion,'  or 
caused  them  to  learn  some  'short  orthodox  Catechism,' 
so  as  to  answer  questions  to  their  parents  or  masters, 
or  'to  any  of  the  Selectmen.''  How  oddly  some  of 
our  modern  Town  Officers  would  look  discharging 
this  last  duty!  They  gravely  catechising  a  bevy  of 
our  juvenile  tyros  in  divinity!  A  sight  indeed! 
****** 

Reader,  we  are  now  through  with  the   History  of 
Hartford  during  its   Second    Period.     That    antiqua- 


312 


HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL. 


rian  coach  in  which,  some  time  ago,  we  invited  you 
to  ride,  has  reached  the  end  of  the  jom-ney  which  we 
then  proposed.  We  open  the  door  for  you  to  alight. 
Yet  ere  you  step  out,  to  shake  off  the  dust  of  travel, 
and  to  seek  repose,  pause  a  moment  I  Let  us  have  a 
word  at  parting! 

We  have  journeyed,  by  two  stages,  through  the  Jirst 
thirty  years  of  Hartford — that  period  of  its  history 
which,  when  \ve  started,  was  unexplored,  vague,  and 
comparatively  unknown.  A  seeming  wilderness, 
without  a  path,  when  our  survey  commenced,  may 
we  not  say  now — now  that  we  have  explored  it — now 
that  our  eyes  have  rested,  minutely  even,  upon  its 
features — now  that  we  have  beheld  it  redeemed  and 
disenthralled  from  savage  wildness  by  the  hands  of 
civilized  and  Christian  culture — now  may  we  not  say 
that  we  have  found  it,  in  all  substantial  respects,  a 
garden  of  beauty?  True  it  had  its  weeds — what  gar- 
den has  not  ?  But  it  was  laid  out  with  the  skilful  ex- 
actness of  a  high  moral  horticulture.  It  was  seeded 
with  the  swift  germinating  principles  of  true  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  it  brought  forth  fruit,  rich,  mani- 
fold, both  for  the  generation  which  first  enjoyed  it, 
and  for  all  in  our  Town  who  have  succeeded  the  rudi- 
mental  race.  Yes,  Hartford  may  indeed  be  proud  of 
its  first  estate.  Never  was  there  a  fairer  municipal 
germ  than  that  which  Hooker  and  his  illustrious  party 
planted  here — and  rarely  a  fairer  spot  for  its  develop- 
ment than  in  this  our  own  sweet,  laughing,  gorgeous, 
hill-guarded  valley  of  the  Connecticut!  Let  our  citi- 
zens then — all — rejoice    in   the    good   fortune   which 


REFLECTIONS.       GOOD-BYE.  313 

smiled  upon  the  birth  and  infancy  of  their  present 
home!  With  hearts  grateful  for  the  noble  institu- 
tions, and  the  solid  liberties,  which  their  Fathers 
established,  and  which  they  bequeathed,  and  which 
have  come  down  to  us  so  perfect,  so  powerful  for 
good,  and  so  full  of  blessing,  let  them  labor  to  pre- 
serve them,  to  give  them  fresh  efficiency,  and  to 
transmit  them,  in  all  their  strength,  and  glow,  and 
glory,  unimpaired  to  posterity ! 

While  we  thus,  Reader,  exult  in  the  Past  of  our 
own  Town,  let  us  not  forget  the  whole  broad  sphere, 
in  which  Hartford,  down  through  more  than  two 
centuries  of  progress,  has  ever  played  a  conspicuous 
part — let  us  be  mindful  of  all  that 

•'  roiigli  laud  of  earth,  and  stone,  and  tree, 
Whore  breathes  no  castled  lord,  or  cabined  slave ; 
Where  thoughts,  and  tongues,  and  hands,  are  bold  and  free, 
And  friends  ■vvill  find  a  welcome,  foes  a  grave" — 

let  us  think  of  the  whole  of  Connecticut  I  What  we 
have  attempted  to  achieve  for  our  Town  in  the  way 
of  giving  its  story,  ought  to  be  achieved  for  our  State 
at  large.  Time  it  is  that  the  history  of  Connecticut — 
all  of  it — should  be  spread  before  the  world.  There 
is  enough  in  it  to  justify  the  pride  of  its  every  son  and 
every  daughter — and  nothing,  nothing,  in  comparison 
with  surrounding  States,  with  every  State  of  this 
Union,  with  every  sovereignty  the  world  over,  of 
which  they  need  to  be  ashamed.  We  are  tired  of  the 
ceaseless  '  flings'  at  Connecticut  in  which  some  wit- 
less people,  south  of  our  line,  choose  to  indulge. 
They  are  arrogant,  impertinent,  and  calumnious — and 
40 


314  HARTFORD.       THE    SCHOOL. 

we  would  have  every  man  and  woman  among  us,  aye 
and  child  too,  ready  to  meet  them — armed  and  imbued 
so  thoroughly  with  our  own  history  as  to  be  able  to 
toss  them  off  as  from  the  thick  bosses  of  a  buckler, 
and  boldly  challenge  to  the  comparison  of  State  glo- 
ries !     We  have  the  authority  of  Bancroft,  the  histo- 
rian of  our  country,  for  saying,  that  "  no  State  in  the 
world  has  rim  a  fairer,  a  happier,  or  more  unsullied  ca- 
reer than  Connecticut''' — and,  he  adds,  "  no   State  has 
such   motives   for  publishing-    its   historical    records." 
'■''TJie  modesty,"  he  says,  of  those,  our  citizens,  who 
have  preceded  us,  "//«s  left  unclaimed  much  of  the  glo- 
ry that  is  our  due"     Away  then  with  all  phrases  of 
ridicule  at  our  expense  I     Down  with  the  libellers  I     K 
they  know  not  more  than  just  enough  to  talk  about 
'  wooden  nutmegs,'  assure  them  that  if  we  make  such 
merchandize,  our  only  customers  are  strangers  to  our 
territory !     If  '  wooden  hams'  are  upon  then-  lips,  give 
them  the   same  answer  I     If  they  sneer  at  '  pedlers,' 
teU  them  to  look  at  home,  and  find,  if  they  can,  amid 
all  of  the  same  vocation  among  themselves,  any  who 
have  become,  as  have  many  from  our  midst,  in  New 
York   and   elsewhere,    '  merchant    princes  I'     If    they 
mock  us  for  '  Blue  Laws,'  tell  them  our  legislation  is 
as  free  from  intolerance  and  undue  severity  as  any 
other — nay,  tell  them  that  for  each  stain  upon  the  Code 
of  Connecticut,  you  will  engage  to  point  out  dozens 
upon  iheir  own  Codes — and  you  can  do  it  too — suc- 
cessfully !     Oh  such  abuse  is  petty,  and  detestable — 
and  craven  the  spirit  that  will  endure  it  I     Put  upon 
our  pride,  let  us  show,  not  only  that  we  possess  it,  but 


REFLECTIONS.       GOOD-BYE.  315 

that  in  the  light,  and  blaze  even  of  our  history,  we  can 
vindicate  it,  nobly,  unanswerably,  triumphantly!  In 
the  presence  of  those  who  would  attempt  to  tarnish 
our  escutcheon,  let  us  hold  our  heads  high  as  heaven ! 

"  Back  let  115  tos.-i  their  treasons;  to  their  heads" — 

and  teach  them  that  in  the  gifts  of  intelligence,  in 
honesty,  in  patriotism,  in  all  the  virtues  that  render 
life  valuable  and  happy,  we  bow  to  no  people  upon 
the  earth! 

So,  with  a  thought  for  the  pride  of  our  Town  and 
State,  and  with  an  incentive  to  watch  ever  well  the 
noble  legacy  of  our  Fathers,  we  are  prepared.  Reader, 
to  bid  you  adieu.  Our  journey  has  been  long — longer 
much  than  we  anticipated  when  we  set  out.  But  we 
trust  you  have  found  it  a  pleasant  one — entertaining 
and  instructive — both.  K  prosperous  with  you,  our 
own  labor  is  abundantly  rewarded.  When  shall  we 
meet  again  ?  Never,  perhaps — perhaps !  Life  hangs 
so  by  a  thread — thin  and  brittle  at  best  as  the  most 
exile  fibre  of  the  glass-blower !  Yet — peradventure — 
in  the  com-se  of  the  year,  we  may  renew  our  grasp  of 
your  friendly  hand,  and  invite  you  to  another  ride 
along  the  mossy,  lichen  paths  of  old  Time.  But  not 
until  we  shall  have  fully  explored  another  little  '  Her- 
culaneum'  of  history,  and  garnered,  from  dusty  depos- 
itories and  nooks  of  mould,  fresh  materials  with  which 
to  prosecute  a  new  journey.  The  sun  shines  bright, 
it  is  true,  and  inviting,  over  a  continuous  path,  from 
the  Second  Volume  of  the  Records  of  our  State,  now 
lately  given  to  the  public  under  the  promising  auspi- 


t 


316  HARTFORD. 

ces  of  J,  Hammond  Trumbull,  Esquire.  Noble  the 
labor  he  has  performed !  Rich  the  lure  it  offers 
to  our  antiquarian  thirst!  Its  treasures  may  soon 
be  our  prey. 

Meanwhile,  Reader,  think,  if  you  please,  of  that 
which  we  have  already  written — of  the  purposes, 
the  struggle,  the  heart,  the  mind,  the  sunshine  and 
the  shadow,  the  hope  and  its  fulfillment,  of  the  crowd- 
ed, agitating,  adventurous  first  Thirty  years  of  Hart- 
ford! That  these  memories  may  be  '  sweet  and 
pleasant  to  your  soul,'  is  the  farewell  wish  of 

SCjEVA. 


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